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THE  COINAGE  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES 

WITH  ESPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  THE  CUT  AND  COUNTERSTAMPED  PIECES* 

BY  HOWLAND  WOOD 

Iii  any  consideration  of  the  coinage  of  the  West  Indian  Islands  a 
number  of  points  not  met  with  in  other  series  present  themselves. 
None  of  the  coins  with  the  exception  of  the  Haitian  issues  were  made 
on  the  islands,  and  hut  few  were  made  by  the  home  governments  for 
the  particular  use  of  the  island  colonists.  It  is  therefore  apparent  that 
what  coins  the  islanders  had  were  outside  coins,  either  imported  on 
purpose,  or  brought  there  in  the  natural  course  of  trade.  The  Danes 
for  their  insular  possessions  formed  an  exception,  for  a plentiful  supply 
of  coins  made  especially  for  their  West  Indian  colonies  was  sent  over 
from  the  beginning  up  to  the  present  day.  Despite  this  a large  number 
of  merchants  of  St.  Thomas  have  issued  tokens  of  small  denominations 
based  on  the  Mexican  dollar. t In  passing  it  may  be  well  to  state  that 


Fig.  1. 

Denmark  has  made  the  only  gold  coins  for  actual  use  in  the  West  In- 
dies. Fig.  1 shows  the  four  daler  or  twenty  franc  piece.  Spain  in 
recent  years  only,  made  a silver  coinage  for  Porto  Rico.  England  at 
one  time  has  made  copper  money  for  Bermuda,  Bahamas,  Barbados  and 
Antigua,  and  since  1869  a plentiful  nickel  coinage  for  Jamaica.  The 
English  silver  coinages  consist  of  the  so-called  anchor  pieces,  the 
three -halfpenny  pieces  for  Jamaica  and  Ceylon,  and  four -penny  pieces 
which  partake  more  of  the  nature  of  general  colonial  issues.  In  recent 
years  the  four-penny  piece  bears  the  inscription  British  guiana  and 

* These  notes  have  been  made  largely  from  the  extensive  collection  of  these  pieces  in  the 
cabinet  of  The  American  Numismatic  Society. 

f The  Danish  West  Indies  have  had  several  standards  ; up  to  1849  the  skilling  was  in  use, 
from  1849  to  1904  base  silver  and  bronze  coins,  the  sub-divisions  of  the  dollar  were  used,  since 
1904  with  the  advent  of  a gold,  silver,  nickel  and  bronze  coinage  the  monetary  unit  has  been  the 
franc  — five  francs  erpial  a Danish  West  Indian  dollar,  one  franc  equals  one  hundred  hits,  five 
bits  equal  one  cent. 


The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


90 


west  indies.  France  at  times  lias  made  copper  and  billon  coins  for 
her  colonies  in  general,  and  a silver  coinage  in  1731  and  1732  for  the 
Windward  Islands.*  In  recent  years  tokens  in  nickel  have  been  struck 
at  Paris  for  Martinique  and  Guadeloupe.  The  Netherlands  has  but 
recently  issued  a distinctive  coinage  for  Curasao. 

All  of  the  home  countries  sent  over,  when  they  actually  had  to,  a 
limited  supply  of  worn  out  silver  coins  and  copper  tokens.  In  reading 
over  the  various  acts  and  legislations  of  the  different  island  govern- 
ments, and  also  the  petitions  sent  home,  we  see  that  the  islanders 
seldom  if  ever  had  enough  actual  money  on  hand,  or  if  at  any  time 
they  did  have,  it  was  not  of  suitable  denominations  for  their  purposes. 
The  different  islands  had  varying  standards  brought  about  by  their 
location,  the  influence  of  their  foreign  trade,  or  oftentimes  by  their 
previous  system  of  accounts,  for  in  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth 
Centuries  they  frequently  changed  hands  on  account  of  the  wars 
between  the  English,  French,  Spanish,  and  Dutch. 

The  currency  of  the  English  colonies  comes  under  three  epochs; 
that  before  1705,  between  1705  and  1825,  and  from  1825  to  the  present, 
due  to  important  legislations  regarding  colonial  currency  made  in  1705 
and  1825.  A glance  at  conditions  in  the  islands  in  the  early  days  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  an  understanding  of  the  monetary  systems  in 
vogue.  The  growing  trade  with  the  Spanish  Main  and  the  rise  of  the 
buccaneers  brought  in  the  Spanish -American  money  to  the  different 
islands,  though  the  system  of  accounts  was  largely  kept  in  the  money 
of  the  home  countries,  such  as  pounds,  shilling  and  pence  ; and  livres 
and  sols.  In  the  Seventeenth  Century  the  Spanish  dollar  or  piece  of 
eight  generally  passed  for  four  shillings  sixpence,  it  often  passed  for  five 
shillings  or  the  English  crown. t In  Jamaica  the  dollar  was  equivalent 
to  four  shillings,  and  the  eighth  or  real  to  sixpence.  Heavy  and  light 
pieces  were  generally  accepted  at  the  same  value  with  the  usual  result 
that  the  light  coins  drove  out  the  heavy  pieces,  the  good  being  shipped 
away  from  the  islands  as  merchandise.  With  the  possible  exception  of 
Jamaica,  the  home  of  the  buccaneers,  which  always  had  a sufficient 
currency,  the  colonies  were  continually  enacting  measures  to  keep  what 
little  supply  they  had  on  the  islands.  As  a consequence,  the  coins  re- 
maining kept  passing  at  an  enhanced  value. 

* These  are  the  familiar  Isles  du  Vent  pieces,  known  on  some  of  the  English  islands  as 
crimbals,  from  the  name  of  their  introducer  at  Barbados. 

-j-  For  various  notes  on  the  English  islands  I am  indebted  to  A History  of  Currency  in  the 
British  Colonies,  by  Robert  Chalmers,  London,  1893  ; and  for  the  French  possessions,  to  Ilistoire 
monetaire  des  Colonies  francaises,  by  E.  Zay,  Paris,  1892. 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


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After  the  Act  of  1705  most  of  the  islands  went  on  a gold  standard, 
Spanish  and  Brazilian  gold  coins  being  plentiful.  The  latter  coins  in 
time  proved  the  more  popular,  especially  the  pieces  known  as  the  half 
dobra,  better  known  as  the  half  Johannes  or  Joe.*  These  pieces  were 
of  four  escudos,  sometimes  called  pe<?a.  These  were  extensively  coun- 
terfeited in  North  America  and  Birmingham  about  the  end  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century  and  shipped  to  the  West  Indies.!  The  reason  that 
the  Spanish  money  grew  in  disfavor  was  because  in  1722  and  again  in 
178G  the  Spanish  reduced  the  fineness  of  gold  in  their  pieces,  bringing 
the  standard  down  gradually  from  22  karats  to  21  karats.  Ah  of  this 
tended  towards  confusion.  As  regards  the  silver,  the  real  or  the  bit, 
as  it  was  called,  was  worth  as  a rule,  seven  and  a half  to  ninepence  ; 
and  instead  of  eight  to  a dollar,  ten  or  eleven  went  to  a dollar  and  in 
some  cases  twelve  or  thirteen. 

The  necessity  for  small  change  under  the  dollar  size,  the  need  of 
tenths,  elevenths,  twelfths  or  thirteenths  of  a dollar  according  to  what 
the  bit  might  be,  as  well  as  the  urgency  of  keeping  what  money  there 
was  on  the  various  islands,  brought  about  the"  expedient  of  cutting  and 
counterstamping  the  coins.  This  practice  came  into  vogue  at  the  close 
of  the  Eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Centuries,  and 
almost  died  out  about  the  middle  of  the  latter  century,  though  on  the 
island  of  Tortola  the  cut  pieces  were  in  use  until  1889.  The  stamped 
money  can  be  called  a phase  of  numismatics  that  has  now  passed  away 
and  was,  for  the  most  part,  confined  to  the  English  Colonies  or  those 
islands  where  British  influence  prevailed. 

As  the  cut  silver  of  the  West  Indies  has  always  been  of  great  in- 
terest, and  its  exact  attributions  in  many  cases  has  often  been  fraught 

* Although  generally  called  a Joe  the  piece  in  reality  was  a half. 

f In  connection  with  this  counterfeiting  the  following  extract  from  a letter  written  by  Henry 
William  De  Sassure,  Director  of  the  United  States  Mint,  dated  Oct.  27,  1795,  is  of  interest.  “ I 
understand  that  none  of  the  laws  of  Congress  have  provided  any  penalties  for  the  various  offences 
which  may  be  committed  against  the  coinage.  In  most  countries,  strict  laws  are  enacted,  prohib- 
iting the  interference  of  individuals  in  this  attribute  of  the  sovereignty;  and,  in  some,  the  very 
possession  of  dies,  or  presses,  or  other  implements  essential  in  the  coinage,  is  made  criminal.  In 
this  .country,  Mints  are  said  to  be  boldly  erected  at  Baltimore,  and  elsewhere,  professedly  to  imitate 
the  coins  of  foreign  countries,  and  to  furnish  a debased  gold  coin  for  the  West  India  markets;  and 
so  much  of  the  gold  bullion  which  would  be  brought  to  the  national  Mint,  is  carried  to  these  pri- 
vate establishments,  which  degrade  our  national  character.”  In  Am.  Jour,  of  Numismatics,  July, 
1892,  p.  13. 

An  interesting  account  of  the  making  of  Spanish  doubloons  in  New  York  about  1821  is  given 
in  a paper  by  Mr.  Henry  Russell  Drowne  in  the  Proceedings,  American  Numismatic  and  Archae- 
ological Society  for  1893,  p.  41. 


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with  much  uncertainty,  the  present  monograph  is  an  attempt  to  clear 
up  some  of  the  difficulties.  Many  of  the  countermarks  are  even  now 
not  definitely  fixed,  being  assigned  oftentimes  to  hearsay  and  prove- 
nance. Many  other  stamps  have  never  been  placed  for  any  island. 

We  can  divide  these  cut  and  counterstamp'ed  pieces  into  two 
classes: 

1.  Money  cut  into  segments  or  horizontal  slices,  largely  to  pro- 
vide small  change,  often  at  an  increase  over  its  face  value  ; and  money 
with  a hole  cut  in  it,  both  the  ring  and  the  plug  being  used. 

2.  Money  counterstamped,  primarily  to  keep  it  on  the  island, 
generally  at  some  fixed  value. 

The  gold  money,  which  to-day  is  very  rare,  was  often  counter - 
stamped  but  seldom  cut.  As  there  was  a great  deal  of  light,  clipped  and 
sweated  gold  and  counterfeits  of  low  grade  gold,  many  of  the  islands 
accepted  this  only  by  weight.  To  rectify  the  light  weight  as  well  as  to 
make  the  gold,  especially  the  half  Joe,  conform  with  whatever  standard 
the  island  might  have,  the  practice  of  inserting  a gold  plug  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  pieces  came  in.  Not  only  were  the  gold  coins  counterfeited, '* 
but  the  plugs  were  falsified  as  well  with  base  alloy. 

Another  type  of  West  Indian  coins  were  the  black  dogs,  as  the 
French  estampes  and  the  Cayenne  sous  were  called,  primarily  intended 
for  the  French  Colony  on  the  mainland  of  South  America,  but  very 
largely  current  throughout  the  Antilles.  Even  these  small  billon  coins 
were  zealously  guarded  by  the  islanders,  for  nearly  every  island  stamped 
some  initial  or  mark  on  them  to  confine  them  at  home.  They  were 
then  called  stampees  by  the  English. 


Barbados.  Spanish  pieces  of  eight f and  Portuguese  gold  passed 
current  here.  Both  the  light  weight  silver  and  gold  were  continually 
driven  from  the  island  by  special  enactments.  After  1825  British 
money  had  a more  extended  circulation,  and  as  in  common  with  the 
other  West  Indian  Islands,  British  tokens  were  extensively  used.  Al- 

* At  the  same  time  a villainous  practice  was  introduced  of  importing  base  half- Johannes 
from  Birmingham,  Sheffield  and  America.  Robert  Chalmers,  op.  c it.,  p.  20. 

f The  “piece  of  eight”  as  it  was  called  by  the  English  speaking  colonists  of  the  New 
World  is  the  coin  from  which  our  dollar  is  derived.  It  was  called  variously  pieza  de  a ocho, 
piastre,  colonato,  peso  duro,  escudo  de  plata,  and  by  the  French  gourde.  These  were  very  exten- 
sively coined  in  all  of  the  Spanish  mints  of  the  Americas  as  well  as  in  the  later  mints  of  Latin 
American  countries  after  their  separation,  though  generally  these  latter  pieces  bore  other  names 
of  values. 


Tiie  Coinage  op  tlie  West  Indies 


93 


though  cut  money  was  used,*  Barbados  never  stamped  any  of  its  silver. 
Pieces  stamped  with  an  i b have  been  assigned  to  the  island  but  no  leg- 
islative authority  has  been  found  to  substantiate  this  attribution.!  In 
1788  and  1792  an  interesting  coinage  was  issued  by  the  home  govern- 
ment, and  later  private  tokens  were  issued  by  Moses  Tolanto,  and  at 
Bridgetown  by  Thomas  Lawler  & Co. 


The  Leeward  Islands.  They  comprised  at  first  St.  Kitts,  Antigua, 
Montserrat  and  Nevis,  then  later  Dominica  and  the  Virgin  Islands  in 
the  English  group. 


Dominica.  In  1798  the  Council  ordered,  to  keep  the  money  on  the 
island,  that  4000  of  the  newest  pillar  dollars  be  handed  over  to  an  in- 
genious silversmith  for  the  purpose  of  having  a piece  not  exceeding  two 
pennyweights  cut  out  of  the  centre  of  each  dollar;  the  cut  dollar  to 
circulate  at  eight  shillings  threepence,  and  the  piece  cut  out  to  pass  at 
one  shilling  three -halfpennies.  (Figs.  2 and  3 show  two  varieties  of 
this  cutting.) | If  the  ring  did  not  weigh  fifteen  pennyweight,  it  was  to 
pass  as  sixpence  per  penny  weight.  § The  piece  cut  out  is  a scalloped 
plug  of  fifteen  crenelles  on  which  is  stamped  in  script  the  letter  T) 
(Fig.  4).  These  small  pieces  were  called  “ mocos  ” or  two  bits.  In 


* Chalmers,  op.  tit. , p.  53  : “A  pistereen  has  been  divided  into  four  parts,  three  of  which 
became  current,  each  at  half  the  value  of  the  pistereen,  and  the  remaining  fourth  part  contained 
bullion  equal  in  weight  to  the  other  three.  An  attempt  was  made  to  divide  the  dollar,  but  some 
secret  principle  prevented  the  mutilations,  or  common  sense  rejected  the  imperfect  coinage,  as  it 
ought  to  have  treated  the  others.” 

f A great  many  of  the  counterstamps,  especially  on  copper  coins,  so  often  arbitrarily  attrib- 
uted to  the  West  Indies  are  probably  nothing  more  than  initials  of  persons  or  firms  in  England  or 
the  United  States,  and  consequently  have  no  significance. 

% The  coarse  crenelles  on  Eig.  3 cause  this  piece  to  resemble  the  similar  style  used  on  tlu', 
island  of  Trinidad,  but  the  latter  can  be  distinguished  by  having  coarser  and  more  pointed  cre- 
nelles. see  Fig.  82. 

§ Chalmers,  op.  tit.,  p.  98  ff. 


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comparing  a number  of  these  mocos  it  is  found  that  some  of  these  plugs 
are  cut  from  halves  or  four  real  pieces  (Fig.  5) . Whether  these  passed 
for  two  bits,  one  and  one -half  bits,  or  single  bits,  I do  not  know.  To 
my  knowledge,  none  of  the  rings  of  the  four  real  piece  have  turned  up. 
it  is  also  of  interest  that  the  crenations  on  the  coins  cut  from  the  four 
real  pieces  number  often  sixteen  or  seventeen  (Fig.  5),  as  well  as  the 
regulation  fifteen  of  the  cut  dollar.  The  dollars  or  rings  for  the  most 
part  had  no  stamps,*  though  a few  specimens  have  been  found  with  a 


Fig.  G. 


Fig.  7. 


crowned  16  stamped  on  both  sides  (Fig.  6).  Other  stamped  coins  be- 
longing to  Dominica  are  as  follows  : dollars  with  a large  round  hole  cut 
out  23mm.  in  diameter,  the  ring  counterstampedt  with  a crowned  12, 


(Fig.  7) , the  plug  with  a crowned  6 (Fig.  8) , the  latter  cut  in  half  and 
stamped  with  a crowned  3 (Fig.  9) , for  twelve,  six  and  three  bits,  and 
the  old  dollar  with  the  scalloped  hole  out  of  it,  reholed  the  larger  size, 
these  plugs  with  the  scalloped  hole  in  the  centre  were  then  stamped  for 


* Some  of  these  unstamped  dollars  may  belong  to  Trinidad  as  the  T bits  of  this  island  are 
found  with  fifteen  as  well  as  fourteen  crenelles.  In  a Proclamation  of  Dominica  of  October  17, 
1862,  ordering  the  holders  of  mutilated  and  defective  coins  to  exchange  them  at  the  treasury,  we 
notice  the  following  rating  : 25  shillings  for  7 ring  dollars,  for  14  six-bit  pieces  and  for  56  mocos 
respectively,  and  1 shilling  for  every  20  dogs.  By  this  we  see  that  no'  notice  is  taken  of  the  ring 
dollars  of  16  bits  with  the  small  cremated  hole,  only  the  ring  of  12  bits,  though  the  plugs  for  both 
of  the  ring  dollars  are  mentioned. 

t In  Spink’s  Circular  for  Dec.,  1905,  col.  8761,  there  is  shown  one  of  these  rings  counter- 
stamped  four  times. 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


95 


four  bits  (Fig.  10) . Pistareens*  are  also  found  with  a large  round  hole, 
17mm.,  cut  out  of  them  leaving  but  a mere  ring  (Fig.  11).  These  were 
valued  at  two  bits. 


r 


mmm 

Fig.  12.  Fig.  13.  Fig.  11.  Fig.  15. 

The  Virgin  Islands,  Tortola . In  1801  an  act  was  passed  to  stamp 
half-dollars,  quarter -dollars,  shillings,  pistareens,  bits,  half  bits  and 
black  dogs  with  the  word  tortola.  An  examination,  however,  of  the 
extant  pieces  shows  only  Spanish  dollars  cut  in  halves,  quarters  and 
eighths,  pistareens/ and  reals  in  halves  and  the  word  spelled  in  various 
ways  (Figs.  12-15).  They  come  with  both  crenated  and  plain  cut 
edges,  the  latter  the  more  common.  These  pieces  are  about  the  com- 
monest of  all  of  the  counterstamped  coins  as  they  were  current  in  the 


islands  until  1889.  The  Cayenne  sous  are  found  with  a large  t on  them 
(Figs.  16,  17), t or  with  an  h in  a lozenge  or  square  frame  (Figs.  18, 
19) , the  initial  of  Hodge,  grand  proprietor  of  Tortola.  These  latter 
have  but  recently  been  assigned  to  these  islands. 


* The  pistareen  had  its  origin  in  the  Spanish  Wars  of  Succession  at  the  beginning  of  the 
18th  century,  and  represented  two  reals  or  a quarter  of  a peso  of  new  plate.  Though  nominally 
intended  for  the  Spanish  Peninsula  only,  and  passing  there  for  one-fifth  of  the  old  peso,  on  ac- 
count of  the  baseness  of  the  metal;  they  rapidly  traveled  to  the  New  World  where  they  were  ex- 
tensively used  in  the  West  Indies.  This  piece  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  peseta  or  two 
reals  of  the  Spanish  American  mints  which  had  the  two  hemispheres  between  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  and  which  passed  for  one-quarter  of  a peso. 

t In  comparing  these  T stamps  on  the  Tortola  sous  with  a similar  T stamp  impressed  only  on 
silver  for  Tobago  (see  Figs.  75-78)  the  thought  may  arise  in  some  minds  that  all  of  these  stamps 
should  be  assigned  to  the  same  island.  The  Tortola  silver  is  clearly  fixed  as  the  name  in  full  is 
stamped  on  the  pieces,  and  the  T bo  stampees  (Figs.  79,  80)  can  be  for  no  other  island  than  To- 
bago. The  sous  stamped  with  a T can  certainly  be  assigned  to  Tortola  as  these  come  frequently 
stamped  over  the  ii  in  lozenge  mark  of  Tortola  (Fig.  18).  This  leaves  only  the  silver  stamped 
with  a t.  As  far  as  I know  there  has  been  no  question  of  its  attribution  other  than  to  Tobago. 
There  is,  however,  a 17.  S.  cent  of  1827  counterstamped  with  a t nearer  in  style  to  that  on  the 
silver  than  to  the  t on  the  Cayenne  sous,  that  may  be  for  either  Tortola  or  Tobago. 


Tiie  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


96 


The  Saints.  Two  other  islands  in  the  Leeward  group  called  The 
Saints,  counterstamped  cut  halves  (Fig.  20)  and  quarters  of  the  Span- 
ish dollars,  together  with  the  Cayenne  sous  (Fig.  21)  and  English  half- 
pennies and  farthings,  with  a large  indented  s.  The  silver  has  the  s 
repeated  three  times,  and  for  the  most  part  is  found  with  the  later 
additional  Tortola  counterstamp  (Fig.  22).  The  s mark  is  also  found 
in  conjunction  with  the  St.  Lucia  pieces. 


Fig.  23.  Fig.  24. 

Nevis.  Small  worn  silver  coins,  generally  Spanish  reals  or  the 
twelve  sous  pieces  of  the  Isle  du  Vent  type  are  found  counterstamped 
with  nevis  and  some  denomination  as  1,  6,  7 (Fig.  23) , and  9,  probably 
the  number  of  dogs,  while  the  billon  pieces  simply  have  the  word  nevis 
(Fig.  24) , as  well  as  occasional  silver  pieces.  In  the  Caldecott  sale 
there  was  a Spanish  real  with  9 over  n in  a heart-shaped  indent  as- 
signed to  this  island. 


Fig.  25. 

Fig.  26. 

St.  Christopher  or  St.  Kitts.  Although  the  records  show  an  act 
was  passed  for  stamping  and  cutting  silver  and  copper  coins,  only  the 
black  dogs  can  be  definitely  assigned  to  this  island.  These  have  s k 
punched  in  them  (Fig.  25),  oftentimes  combined  with  the  Nevis  mark. 
Possibly  the  cut  dollar  uncounterstamped  with  the  round  hole  15mm 


TIN 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


97 


wide,  may  lie  the  piece  referred  to  in  the  records  (Fig.  2G)  ; as  yet  no 
ping  has  turned  np  to  help  in  determining  its  identity. 


Fig.  27. 


Montserrat.  All  silver  pieces  connterstamped  with  a large  m are 
now  assigned  here,  i have  seen  this  m connterstamped  three  times  on 
Spanish -American  dollars  cut  in  quarters,  with  an  additional  punch  on 
the  reverse  that  has  not  been  made  out  (Fig.  27) , as  well  as  on  pieces 
of  smaller  denominations  either  cut  in  halves  or  quarters,  but  with  a 
single  m.  Many  of  these  pieces  have  afterwards  been  connterstamped 
for  Tortola.  This  surcharge  also  conies  on  pistareens  of  Spain  (Fig.  28) 
and  Danish  West  Indian  pieces  cut  in  halved  or  quarters  and  on  the 
base  reals  of  Colombia  (Fig.  29) . The  m on  the  silver  pieces  is  in  re- 
lief in  an  incuse  square,  on  the  Cayenne  sous  the  mark  is  generally  a 


p 


Fig.  30.  Fig.  31. 

crude  m punched  in  the  piece  (Fig.  30) . The  m in  a circular  indent  is 
now  assigned  to  Martinique.  Another  class  of  coins,  connterstamped 
but  not  cut,  are  Spanish  two  reals,  reals  and  half -real  pieces  counter- 
struck  with  a crowned  18,  9 (Fig.  31),  7,  4 (Fig.  39)  or  3 with  an  m 
underneath  in  an  oval  depression.  A quarter  segment  of  a Spanish 
dollar  connterstamped  with  2*6  is  given  to  this  island  with  some  show 
of  authority.  Spanish  one  real  pieces  cut  in  quarter  segments  but  not 
connterstamped  were  also  used  here. 

Vieque  or  Crab  Island.  This  is  a small  island  off  Porto  Rico, 
where  Danish  West  Indian  coins  were  connterstamped  with  a mark 
like  a rayed  circle  or  star  of  twelve  points  (Fig.  32) . Spanish  pieces 
punched  with  an  indented  v are  also  assigned  to  this  island  but  with 


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The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


Fig.  32.  Fig.  33. 

no  absolute  authority.  The  billon  sous  with  a v punched  in  are  doubt- 
less correctly  attributed  here.  The  piece  illustrated  (Fig.  33),  has 
been  stamped  twice. 

Antigua  is  represented  only  by  a copper  farthing  dated  1836,  is- 
sued by  Hannay  & Coltart,  merchants. 


St.  Martin.  The  French,  who  controlled  part  of  the  island  seemed 
to  have  stamped  Cayenne  sous  and  copper  coins  with  a large  flour -de- 
lis (Fig.  34) . Of  the  several  pieces  noted  with  this  stamp,  it  has  been 
found,  almost  always,  in  conjunction  with  a large  m punch  of  about 
the  same  style  and  coarseness  as  the  fleur-de-lis.  This  additional  m 
mark  has  probably  no  connection  with  the  similar  Montserrat  stamp 
(see  Fig.  30),  but  is  a St.  Martin  counterstamp  used  by  the  Dutch. 
There  is  also  an  extremely  rare  copper  piece  known,  probably  of  native 
manufacture,  with  st.  martin  178-  and  fleur-de-lis  in  centre.*  The 
Dutch,  who  occupied  the  other  part  of  the  island  used  several  punches. 
We  find  small  silver  pieces  (Fig.  35)  counterstamped  sT  m or  s m in  a 
beaded  circle.!  This  mark  has  recently  been  thought  to  lie  for  Santa 
Margarita,  off  the  coast  of  Venezuela  (see  p.  112) , but  probably  the  stamp 
shown  here  is  for  St.  Martin,  as  Zay  (op.  cit.)  mentions  the  fleur-de-lis 
counterstamp  on  a Cayenne  sou  as  having  stamped  on  the  reverse  sT  m 
in  a grenetis.  The  more  common  stamp  is  s*  martin  and  a bunch  of 
arrows  counterstamped  on  cut  quarters  and  fifths  (Fig.  36)  of  Spanish 
dollars 4 These  latter  are  thought  to  have  been  issued  about  1809  by 


* Zay,  p.  207. 

f The  s 3i  mark  is  probably  a misreading  of  the  sT  ji  mark  as  the  T is  very  small  and  placed 
above  the  s. 

X The  Society  has  a specimen  that  is  apparently  a sixth. 


Tiie  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


99 


the  United  Provinces  from  49000  piastres  taken  from  the  Spaniards. 
There  are  other  pieces  that  probably  can  be  assigned  here,  one  having 
simply  the  bunch  of  arrows  without  the  name,  the  other  with  a small 
c c punched  in  above  the  arrows  and  1 b punched  in  the  cut  edges  (Fig. 
37) , probably  for  one  bit.  Both  of  these  pieces  are  Spanish  dollars  cut 
in  quarter  segments.  J.  Meili  has  assigned  certain  half  Joes  counter  - 
stamped  with  a 22  and  a small  head  contained  in  a rectangular  indent 
to  St.  Martin  (Fig.  38) , the  pieces  passing  at  the  value  of  22  florins  of 


Fig.  38. 


Holland.  The  additional  counterstamp  of  22  in  square  is  possibly  for 
Demerara  and  Esseqnibo. 

Philipsburg  on  St.  Martin  counterstamped  silver  coins  with  a r 
in  a beaded  circle  (Fig.  39)  and  Cayenne  sons  with  a p in  a circular 


Fig.  40.  Fig.  41.  Fig.  42. 


indent  (Figs.  40,  41) . Although  this  p counterstamp  was  originally 
attributed  to  St.  Martin,  it  has  since  been  assigned  to  Parimaribo  in 
Dutch  Guiana,  though  on  what  authority  I do  not  know.  As  the  p on 
the  Cayenne  sons  is  seldom  if  ever  seen  without  the  additional  s e 
counterstamp  of  St.  Eustatius,  a neighboring  island,  its  attribution  to 
Parimaribo  seems  to  be  far  fetched.  To  further  strengthen  the  attri- 
bution to  Philipsburg  The  American  Numismatic  Society  has  a speci- 
men in  silver  (illustrated)  bearing  the  additional  connterstamp  of  the 
nearby  island  of  Montserrat. 

St.  Eustatius.  This  island  during  its  tenure  by  the  French  be- 
tween 1781-1801  counterstamped  sons  in  great  numbers  with  s e (Figs. 
40,  41,  42)  for  St.  Eustache,  either  punched  in  or  on  a depressed  circle, 


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The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


and  during  the  following  Dutch  occupation  with  s es  for  St.  Eustatius. 
Bits  and  half -bits  in  brass  were  also  issued  on  this  island  by  Herman 
Gossling. 

St.  Bartholomew.  This  one  time  Swedish  possession  in  the  An- 
tilles stamped  Cayenne  sous,  Swedish  and  Polish  billon  coins  and  early 
IT.  S.  cents  (Fig.  43)  and  less  often  silver  pieces  (Fig.  44),  all  with  a 


Fig.  43.  Fig.  44. 


peculiar  shaped  crown.  On  some  pieces,  I have  seen  the  crown  very 
large  and  again  in  a hexagonal  depression.  Pesetas  are  known  coun- 
terstamped  with  an  o crowned  for  Oscar  I,  1844-1857,  that  may  be  for 
this  island. 


Guadeloupe.  This  island  to  all  intents  and  purposes  we  can  treat 
as  French,  though  the  English  held  it  for  awhile  in  the  first  quarter  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century.  We  have  French  edicts  of  1802  causing  the 
silver  dollars  to  have  a large  octagonal  plug  cut  out  23mm.  wide  ; these 
to  be  stamped  4 e (escalins)  and  r f (Fig.  45),  the  ring  to  be  cut  in 
eight  pieces  and  stamped  r f (Fig.  46)  to  pass  at  one  escalin  each.  An 


Fig.  45. 


Fig.  40. 


Fig.  47. 


Fig.  48. 


edict  of  April  22,  1803,  issued  at  Basse-Terre  commissioned  two  men 
to  stamp  the  Portuguese  moidore  with  a large  o.  This  is  undoubtedly 
the  counterstamp  of  a a in  a fifteen  -rayed  star.  Evidently  there  was 
a need  of  this  distinguishing  mark  on  other  coins  for  we  find  this 
stamp  both  on  silver  (Fig.  47)  and  French  copper  coins.  The  large 
copper  pieces  dated  1767  for  the  Colonies  in  general  were  sent  to 
Guadeloupe,  but  not  being  accepted  by  the  people,  who  were  accus- 


The  Coinage  of  tiie  West  Indies 


tomed  to  the  billon  pieces,  were  held  in  the  treasury.  In  1793,  prob- 
ably owing  to  a shortage  of  billon  coins,  they  were  counterstamped  k f 
in  a garlanded  oval  (Fig.  48) , effacing  the  fleur-de-lis,*  and  put  in  cir- 
culation for  three  sous  nine  deniers,  or  a quarter  escalin.  They  were 
given  the  name  of  col  lots  by  the  natives  from  the  name  of  the  person 
instrumental  for  their  re-issue. t In  the  J.  Meili  sale,  Schulman,  May, 


1910,  lot  2032,  this  counterstamp  is  found  struck  over  the  g crowned 
counterstamp  used  during  the  English  occupation  of  1810-1813  (see 
below),  on  a quarter  segment  of  a French  five  livre  piece  (Fig.  49). 
This  would  show  that  the  stamp  was  revived  again,  probably  follow- 
ing the  Revolution  of  1848. 


In  1811  during  the  English  occupation,  the  dollars  were  pierced 
with  a square  hole  of  twelve  crenations  and  stamped  with  a crowned  g 
in  an  oblong  indentation  (Figs.  50,  51)4  the  plug  having  a g radiated 
(Fig.  52) , the  former  to  pass  for  nine  livres,  the  latter  for  twenty  sous. 
Pistareens  uncounterstamped  also  come  with  a large  square  hole  in 
them,  and  have  recently  been  assigned  to  Guadeloupe.  Other  dollars, 
cut  in  quarters  and  stamped  with  a crowned  g in  three  places  (Figs.  53, 
54)  ,§  were  said  to  have  passed  for  two  livres  five  sous.  Span i sh - Amer - 
ican  dollars  and  French  ecus  of  Louis  XIY  were  used  for  this  purpose. 


* It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  u F stamp  so  carefully  obliterating  the  fleur-de-lis  of  the 
Bourbons  is  still  dominated  by  the  royal  crown. 

f Leon  Belmont  in  L’Antillaisc,  July,  1005.  I'ointe-a-Pitre. 

J Fig.  51  is  curious  in  having  the  G inverted  under  the  crown. 

§ Fig.  54  shows  a larger  countermark. 


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Again  we  find  a curious  cutting  with  the  same  countermark,  apparently 
dollars  were  cut  with  large  square  holes  with  about  twenty-eight  cre- 


nelles, and  the  rings  were  then  cut  in  quarters  (Fig.  55).  I do  not 
know  of  a plug  of  this  piece  ever  having  been  noted.  A very  similar 
countermark  but  in  an  oval  shaped  depression  is  noted  on  some  half 
dobras,  stamped  also  with  82  10  in  oblong  indent  (Fig.  56),  valued  at 
eighty -four  livres  ten  sous  colonial  silver.  Under  an  ordinance  of  1811 
French  silver  of  twenty-four  (Fig.  57),  twelve  and  six  sols  were 


stamped  with  a larger  g-  crowned  and  passed  for  forty,  twenty  and  ten 
sous,  also  worn  Spanish  reals  and  half  reals  thus  stamped  passed  for 
twenty  and  ten  sous.  The  French  again  came  in  possession  of  the 
colony  in  1811,  but  apparently  caused  no  more  coins  to  be  counter - 
stamped  except  miscellaneous  silver  and  copper  coins  of  various  na- 
tionalities. These  bear  a little  b f in  a rectangular  indent  (Fig.  58) 
and  was  probably  a mark  following  the  Revolution  of  1848.  The  coins 
with  the  counterstamp  g p crowned  in  indented  circle,  so  often  attribu- 
ted to  Guadeloupe,  are  for  the  Azores  since  1887.  A similar  stamp  with 
p m crowned  is  for  Mozambique.  Copper  pieces  are  sometimes  found 
with  G t in  a dentilated  rectangle,  or  punched  in,  or  g t in  monogram, # 
probably  for  Grande -Terre,  a part  of  Guadeloupe;  with  ig  in  heart- 
shaped  depression  on  one  side,  possibly  for  lie  Gaudeloupe,  and  on  the 
other  side  with  l s for  Les  Salutes,  another  French  possession,  or  l s 
alone  in  circular  indent ; with  g-ld  for  Guadeloupe.  La  Desirade,  or 

* Silver  Spanish-American  reals  are  also  known  counterstamped  with  this  monogram. 


This  Coinage  of  tiie  West  Indies 


10  IS 


with  i 4*  d iii  square  depression  for  the  same  place  ; with  m:  g proba- 
bly for  Marie  Galenic,  and  with  p.  r for  Pointe  a Pitre.  All  of  these 
latter  attributions  are  but  conjecture. 


The  Danish  WfisT  Indies  having  had  a good  supply  of  coins  from 
home  have  only  once  been  forced  to  counterstamp  coins.  This  was  be- 
tween 1848  and  1803  during  the  first  war  of  Schleswig-Holstein  against 
Prussia.  These  pieces  have  a script  f r vii  crowned  (Fig.  59),  or  in 
smaller  script  letters  f e.  (Fig.  59c ) for  Frederick  YII.  Mr.  Schulman 
lias  informed  me  that  he  has  had  an  American  quarter  counterstamped 
f K but  the  letters  not  joined  together. 


The  Windward  Islands.  In  the  English  colonies  of  Grenada,  St. 
Vincent  and  St.  Lucia  eleven  bits  as  a rule  went  to  a dollar. 


Grenada.  Dollars  on  this  island  before  1800  were  cut  into 
elevenths  and  counterstamped  with  a large  incuse  G for  nine  pence 
(Fig.  GO) . Dollars  were  cut  privately  into  smaller  segments  and 
stamped.  We  find  also  dollars  cut  into  halves,  thirds  and  sixths  and 
stamped  with  a similar  style  g.  Although  we  have  no  authority  for 
assigning  these  latter  pieces  to  Grenada,  they  are  generally  placed 


Fig.  (SO.  Fig.  (51. 


there.  The  pieces  curiously  come  counterstamped  t r and  a value  for 
Trinidad  (Fig.  84). 

The  American  Numismatic  Society  has  an  interesting  square  piece 
cut  from  a Spanish  dollar  on  which  is  a large  G punched  (Fig.  Gl) . 
The  piece  measures  15  x 17mm.,  and  has  twenty-four  crenations.  The 
attribution  of  this  to  Grenada  is  not  certain,  it  may  be  for  Guadaloupe, 


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The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


as  French  copper  pieces  and  English  halfpennies  of  1806  are  known 
with  this  stamp.  Tostons  (four  reals)  of  various  Mexican  mints,  conn  - 
terstamped  with  9 a are  given  for  Grenada.  Whether  these  are  cor- 
rectly attributed  or  not  is  a question.  The  pieces  noticed  have  been 
dated  1842  and  1853  showing  that  wherever  they  were  used  it  was  at  a 
comparatively  recent  date. 

On  the  island  were  many  light  weight  gold  half  dobras  or  Johannes. 
In  1798  these  were  ordered  to  be  plugged  with  gold  to  bring  up  their 
weight.  Those  weighing  eight  pennyweight  twelve  grains  or  more, 
were  to  have  a a stamped  on  the  centre,  those  weighing  less,  to  have  a 
<t  stamped  three  times  near  the  edge  (Fig.  62) . Besides  the  three  g’s 


on  the  edge,  an  i w in  script  is  noted  on  the  plug.  Fig.  63  shows  a 
similar  piece  with  an  additional  counterstamp  i h in  rectangle.  A sim- 
ilar counterstamp  is  noted  by  J.  Meili  in  several  of  his  publications  as 
being  impressed  in  the  centre  of  a plug  on  a half  Joe.  What  island 
this  is  intended  for  is  not  known,  though  it  may  be  for  Trinidad. 
Spanish  doubloons  are  also  known  with  larger  size  g’s  counterstamped 
on  the  edge. 


St.  Vincent. 
stamped  with  an 


An  act  of  1797  ordered  that  the  dogs  and  silver  be 
sv  in  monogram.  We  find. Spanish  dollars  cut  in 


Fig.  64. 

halves  and  quarters  (Fig.  64)  counterstamped  thus  three  times,  and 
pieces  cut  into  eighths  with  one  stamp  impressed  on  them.  The  s in 
this  monogram  is  sometimes  retrograde  (Fig.  65).  Sometime  after  this 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


105 


a plan  was  adopted  to  cut  a large  circular  hole  from  the  dollars,  the 
plug  to  he  worth  one  half  of  the  ring,  the  ring  thus  made  to  pass  for  a 
full  dollar  and  the  plug  for  a half.*  Until  recently  these  pieces  were 
not  located.  Now  the  ring  dollars  with  round  hole  of  23mm.  counter- 
stamped  s over  xii  (Fig.  66),  and  the  plugs  with  s over  vi  (Fig.  67), 


Fig.  66. 

formerly  assigned  to  The  Saints,  have  been  disposed  of  for  St.  Vincent. 
Recently  there  has  been  found  an  uncut  peseta  with  counterstamp 


Fig.  67.  Fig.  68. 

s | iv-o  | b (Fig.  68)  in  three  lines  in  depression  in  form  of  a cross. 
These  pieces  circulated  for  twelve,  six,  and  four  and  one-half  hits. 
The  gold  half  Joes  on  this  island  were  mostly  light  weight  and  orders 


Fig.  69. 

were  given  to  plug  these  to  bring  them  up  to  standard.  Probably  the 
pieces  plugged  and  counterstamped  a h on  the  plug  and  s in  square 
indent  three  times  near  edge,  are  these  pieces  (Fig.  69) . These,  based 
solely  from  having  an  s on  them,  have  been  assigned  to  the  Virgin 

* Chalmers,  op.  c it.,  p.  85. 


The  American  Journal  op  Numismatics 


106 


Islands,  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  s used  in  the  Virgin  Islands  is 
incused  while  the  s on  the  gold  piece  is  in  relief,  and  compares  very 
closely  in  style  with  the  s on  the  ring  pieces  of  St.  Vincent.  As  these 
pieces  are  known  with  the  additional  neighboring  Grenada  stamp,  this 
would  tend  to  strengthen  the  s stamp  for  St.  Vincent. 

St.  Lucia.  On  this  island  the  French  system  of  accounts  was 
used.  No  ring  dollars  were  made  here,  but  the  pieces  were  cut  either 
in  segments  or  in  parallel  divisions.  The  earliest  counterstamp  seems 
to  he  in  the  form  of  an  amulet  or  ring.  Pieces  have  been  found  cut 
from  Spanish  coins  as  follows:  a third  of  a peseta  with  one  amulet 


(Fig.  TO)  with  a value  of  one  escalin  or  fifteen  sous,  a quarter  of  a four 
real  piece  with  two  amulets  valued  at  one  and  a half  escalins  or  twenty - 
two  sous  six  deniers,  and  a third  of  a four  real  piece  with  three  amulets 
valued  at  two  escalins  or  thirty  sous.*  The  next  form  of  counterstamp 
was  probably  the  s l interlaced,  stamped  twice  on  Spanish  dollars  cut 
in  half,  and  three  times  on  dollars  cut  into  thirds  and  quarters  (Fig. 

71) ,  and  stamped  twice  on  pieces  cut  into  sixths,  these  passed  at  the 
rate  of  eight,  six,  four  and  three  escalins  respectively.  Some  have 
their  edges  plain  cut  while  others  are  crenated.  It  is  probable  that  an 
eighth  also  was  used  ; this  has  one  stamp  on  it  and  would  pass  for  two 
escalins.  The  four  real  piece  was  also  cut,  as  one  divided  in  half  with 
the  stamps  on  it  is  known.  Copper  pieces  are  found,  such  as  English 
halfpennies  counterstamped  with  s l,  probably  for  this  island. 

A pistareen  was  also  cut  in  quarters  and  the  edges  crenated  but  not 
stamped,  that  passed  for  three  stampees  or  eleven  sous  three  deniers. 
In  1813  a new  form  of  cut  money  was  issued.  Spanish  dollars,  halves 
and  quarters  were  cut  in  parallel  lines  making  three  divisions.  The 
central  portion  of  the  dollar  was  valued  at  six  livres  fifteen  sous  (Fig. 

72) ,  or  nine  bits,  the  two  side  pieces  at  two  livres' five  sous  each,  or 
three  bits  (Fig.  73),  the  pieces  cut  from  the  four  real  piece  passed  for 
three  livres  seven  sous  six  deniers,  or  four  and  one -half  bits,  and  one 


* Zay,  op.  tit.,  p.  217. 


The  Coinage  of  ti-ie  West  Indies 


107 

livre  six  deniers,  or  one  and  one-half  bits,  the  pieces  cut  from  the  two 
reals  at  one  livre  thirteen  sons  nine  deniers,  or  two  and  one -quarter 
bits,  and  eleven  sons  three  deniers,  or  three  stampees.  In  1817  the 


values  were  reduced  one -ninth.  All  of  these  pieces  bore  the  stamp 
S: Lucie.  The  cut  money  was  withdrawn  in  1851.  In  1811  pieces  of  one 
franc,  halves  and  quarters  of  Napoleon  were  stamped  with  a round 
mark  on  the  head- 'for  use  here.  Copper  sols  of  Louis  XVI  are  known 
stamped  s l in  an  oblong  depression  and  have  been  assigned  to  St. 
Lucia,  as  well  as  the  mark  s l in  crowned  shield  stamped  on  English 
halfpennies  and  U.  S.  cents. 

The  s v counterstamp  of  St.  Vincent  mnd  the  s l and  S : Lucie 
marks  of  St.  Lucia  have  been  counterfeited  in  recent  years,  so  that  ex- 
treme caution  must  be  used  in  studying  these  pieces. 

Tobago.  Although  we  know  Tobago  used  cut  money,  the  history 
of  its  use  is  somewhat  obscure.  The  dollars  with  the  octagonal  hole 
(Fig.  74)  and  the  plug  with  a plain  indented  t are  probably  the  pieces 


Fig.  75. 


Fig.  74.  Fig.  76. 

used  on  this  island  (Figs.  75,  7(1).  This  dollar  passed  for  eight  shill- 
ings threepence  and  the  plug  for  nine  pence,  making  the  dollar  there 
worth  nine  shillings.  Plugs  also  are  found  of  hexagonal  shape  with  a 
similar  t impressed  upon  them,  though  none  of  the  ring  dollars  from 
which  these  plugs  come  are  known.  An  eighth  segment  of  a Spanish 
dollar  is  known  with  a similar  t (Fig.  77)  that  may  possibly  belong  to 
this  island.  Recently  there  has  turned  up  a worn  English  shilling  of 


108 


The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


George  II  with  a small  t impressed  upon  it  (Fig.  78),  that  may  belong 
in  this  series.  Among  the  commonest  of  the  billon  pieces  are  those 


Fig.  77.  Fig.  7S.  Fig.  70.  Fig.  80. 

stamped  t.b  (Fig.  79)  or  x'u  (Fig.  80)  or  simply  t b,  and  more  rarely 
tobago  in  rectangular  border.  The  latter  also  is  known  on  a U.  S. 
cent.  In  the  Caldecott  sale  was  an  Irish  halfpenny  of  1822  stamped 
t b in  panel,  a British  sixpence  of  1810  counterst-amped  i T and  a half- 
penny of  1709  stamped  with  r t crowned,  all  assigned  to  Tobago,  as 
well  as  a pistareen  unstamped  but  with  a large  hexagonal  hole  (Fig. 


Fig.  si. 

81) . I have  also  seen  a U.  S.  cent  of  1827  counterst-amped  with  a t 
similar  to  that  on  the  silver  plugs,  see  note  to  Virgin  Island,  p.  95. 

Trinidad.  The  English  came  into  possession  of  the  island  in  1797 
and  in  1803  a committee  recommended  that  the  dollar  be  cut  into  two, 
four,  eight  and  twelve  parts,  but-  the  governor  did  not  follow  this  ad- 
vice, though  private  individuals  cut  silver  reals  into  halves  and  quar- 
ters. In  1811  dollars  had  their  centres  cut  out,  the  ring  passing  for 


Fig.  82. 


nine  shillings  and  the  centre  for  one  shilling.  The  cutting  was  circu- 
lar and  was  formed  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  crenelles  (Fig.  82),  the  dollar 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


109 

being  unstamped*  while  the  plug  was  impressed  with  a script  t radi- 
ated (Fig.  83) . These  are  known  as  t bits  or  macuquinas.  It  is  said 
that  many  persons  on  the  island  cut  dollars  with  holes  of  all  sizes  and 
dimensions, t besides  importing  counterfeits  of  the  t bits.  At  one  time 
Spanish  coins  were  cut  into  segments.  We  find  dollars  cut  into  halves, 
thirds  (Fig.  84)  and  sixths,  and  stamped  in  one  angle  t r in  a square 
depression,  and  in  an  other  the  value  in  bits,  as  6,  4 and  2,  and  the 
pistareen  cut  in  thirds  and  stamped  with  a 1.  All  of  these  pieces  that 
have  come  to  notice  have  had  the  additional  counterstamp  g at  their 
points  for  Grenada,  t 

The  pistareen  impressed  with  a stamp  in  the  form  of  a lattice  with 
a sun  or  multi -pointed  star  in  the  centre  (Fig.  85) , after  being  assigned 


to  nearly  every  island  in  the  Antilles,  probably  belongs  to  Trinidad, 
for  according  to  Mr.  Porter  of  Dominica,  many  have  been  found  there. 
The  mark  in  the  centre  may  be  intended  to  represent  in  miniature,  the 
shape  of  the  t bit.  This  stamp  is  peculiar  to  the  pistareens  of  Spanish 
mints  and  is  still  common,  being  met  with  on  the  issues  of  Charles  111, 
Charles  IV,  Joseph  Napoleon  and  Ferdinand  VII.  Mr.  J.  B.  Caldecott 
in  the  British  Numismatic  Journal,  Vol.  I,  p.  292,  describes  a Spanish- 
American  peso  stamped  with  a large  crowned  t p and  places  the  pieces 
for  Trinidad  on  the  conjecture  that  the  letter  was  intended  for  an  r 
with  its  tail  broken  off.  The  piece  however  was  certainly  not  stamped 
for  Trinidad  but  probably  by  Portugal  for  some  purpose.  Many  cata- 
loguers have  attributed  the  dollar  stamped  with  g r or  g r crowned  to 
Trinidad  § (Fig.  107-110) , but  there  is  nothing  in  the  records  of  the  island 
to  show  that  they  stamped  dollars  without  cutting  or  mutilating  them 
as  well,  although  we  have  plenty  of  evidence  that  whole  dollars  were 
used  extensively  on  the  island  hand  in  hand  with  the  cut  dollars. 

* See  note  under  Dominica,  p.  !).'!. 

i We  have  just  noted  that  the  pieces  were  cut  into  plugs  with  fourteen  or  fifteen  crenelles 
possibly  one  of  these  may  he-  an  island  counterfeit. 

% As  this  a looks  not  unlike  a c,  some  cataloguers  have  assigned  this  mark  to  Curacao. 

§ One  of  the  e k crowned  pieces  (Fig.  1 10)  may  he  for  Trinidad.  For  further  discussion 
see  under  Jamaica,  p.  lid. 


The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


1 1 0 

Plugged  Portuguese  money  was  in  use  on  the  island  but  was  ex- 
ported very  largely  to  Grenada  and  St.  Vincent.  It  is  not  on  record 
what  the  distinguishing  mark  on  these  gold  pieces  was,  possibly  the 
pieces  stamped  with  an  i h are  the  ones,  the  governor  of  the  island  at 
that  time  being  General  Hislop.  Under  Grenada  is  shown  a half  Joe 
bearing  the  Grenada  mark  as  well  as  the  additional  i h stamp  (Fig.  63) . 
As  we  know  that  the  half  Joe  stamped  on  Trinidad  was  sent  to  Gren- 
ada, this  coin  showing  the  two  stamps  can  partly  warrant  our  assigning 
the  i h mark  to  Trinidad. 

No  dogs  were  apparently  stamped  on  this  island  though  mention  is 
made  of  stampees  or  estampes.  An  English  halfpenny  is  known  with 
the  counterstamp  1 Stampee.  H.  E.  Rapseys  at  Port  of  Spain  issued 
a token  for  one -half  stampee  as  also  did  J.  G.  D’Ade  & Co.  The 
stampees  were  the  billon  sous  issued  by  the  French,  and  generally 
known  as  black  dogs  or  noirs.  These  were  counterstamped  by  the  col- 
onies to  circulate  at  a half  noir  advance.  They  passed  in  Trinidad  for 
threepence  or  a quarter  bit. 

In  the  middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  coppers  were  stamped 
here  with  a large  f d ( Fig.  86) . These  letters  were  the  initials  of  a local 
barber,  Francois  Declos  who  placed  this  mark  an  all  pence  and  half- 
pence which  came  into  his  hands  and  reissued  the  coins  at  two  and 
one -half  and  one  and  one -half  cents  respectively.  They  were  freely 
received  at  the  barber’s  valuation. 


Martinique.  This  island  is  a French  possession  though  the  En- 
glish held  it  off  and  on  in  the  Eighteenth  and  early  Nineteenth  Centu- 
ries. We  find  an  ordinance  of  1805  causing  the  half  Joes  to  be  stamped 
with  20  or  22  over  a small  eagle  (Figs.  87,  88),  to  be  valued  at  twenty 
or  twenty-two  livres  in  silver  of  the  island  schedule.  The  value  of 
twenty -two  livres  to  be  given  to  true  Joes  of  Portugal  or  Brazil,  the 
value  of  twenty  to  be  given  to  those  Joes  made  in  North  America,  En- 
gland or  other  countries.  It  is  a noteworthy  fact  that  this  counter- 
stamp  is  not  confined  to  the  half  Joe,  for  we  find  four  milreis  and  mil- 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


111 


reis  as  well  as  the  small  half  escudo  of  Johannes  V with  this  mark. 
This  stamp  is  said  to  have  been  counterfeited  in  recent  years. 

In  1797  during  the  English  occupation,  silver  dollars  and  half  dol- 
lars were  cut  in  quarters  to  pass  for  three  escalins  and  twenty-two  sols 
six  deniers,  respectively,  the  two  real  pieces  to  be  cut  in  thirds  to  pass 
for  one  escalin  fifteen  sols,  these  pieces  to  he  denti bated  on  their  cut 
edge.  Half  dollars  were  also  cut  in  twelfths  the  same  way.  None  of 
these  coins  bore  stamps.  Pieces  generally  attributed  to  Martinique, 
though  some  people  doubt  this  assignment,  are  those  dollars  and  the 
subdivisions  with  heart  shaped  holes  in  them.  These  at  one  time  were 
current  on  the  island  but  no  act  has  been  found  authorizing  tins  mark. 


The  style  of  cutting  varies;  some  have  a large  blunt  heart -cut  with 
rayed  borders,  others  have  a more  pointed  heart  with  a garland -like 
border.  Both  the  rings  and  the  plugs  are  known  in  all  denominations 
from  the  eight  real  to  the  half  real  (Figs.  89-92).  A third  style  is  a 
smaller  sharp  pointed  heart  with  bevelled  edges  and  no  borders  (Fig. 
93) . This  style  is  found  chiefly  on  the  pistareen  and  the  one  real 


Fig.  9.'!.  Fig.  94.  Fig.  95.  Fig.  96. 

piece.  The  plugs  of  these  are  unknown.  Ecus  of  France  have  been 
found  with  a small  stamp  impressed  upon  them  in  the  form  of  a heart 
Gmm.  wide,  composed  of  eighteen  converging  rays.  French  and  Amer- 
ican copper  and  silver  coins  come  with  a crowned  heart  in  an  oblong 
incuse  (Fig.  94),  and  also  copper  pieces  with  simply  a heart  shaped 
punch.  French  copper  pieces  are  known  with  an  m or  l u in  a similar 


112 


The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


depression  and  the  Cayenne  sons  and  certain  thin  brass  dans  with  m in 
a circular  indent  (Figs.  95,  96),  are  now  reassigned  to  Martinique  in- 
stead of  Montserrat.  Colonial  sous  of  the  c crowned  type  having  a 
small  heart  punched  in  the  centre  of  the  c belong  here.  Pieces  coun- 
terstamped  st.  pe,  s p or  sp  in  monogram  are  attributed  to  St.  Pierre. 

Santa  Margarita.  The  copper  and  the  rarer  silver  coins  formerly 
attributed  to  Santa  Marta  in  Colombia,  are  now  assigned  to  this  island, 
lying  off  the  coast  of  Venezuela.  There  are  dollars  known  counter- 
stamped  s m in  an  oval  with  dotted  border,  that  may  be  assigned  here, 
but  we  have  no  proof.* 


Fig.  !)9. 

Curacao.  This  is  a Dutch  island  though  most  of  the  cut  coinage 
belongs  to  the  English  occupation  during  1807-1815.  Very  little  is 
known  about  these  pieces.  Probably  the  first  issue  is  the  Spanish  dollar 
cut  in  quarters  (Fig.  97)  and  fifths,  stamped  with  a rosace  of  live  petals. 
These  are  said  to  have  passed  for  twenty-one  and  eighteen  stivers  re- 
spectively. Specimens  have  also  been  found  counterstamped  on  cut 
fifths  of  coins  of  Peter  Leopold  of  Tuscany  (Fig.  98).  Also  pieces 
are  known  cut  into  sixths  of  a dollar;  whether  these  are  counterfeits, 
or  the  fifths  cut  down,  or  a regular  issue  for  fifteen  stivers,  is  not 
known.  A very  similar  rosace  with  the  additional  stamp  of  a 21  in  a 


Fig.  100.  Fig.  101. 

circular  indent  is  found  on  quarter  segments  of  Mexican  dollars  (Fig. 
99) , and  as  the  crenations  are  cut  in  a similar  manner,  the  pieces  must 
be,  in  all  probability,  for  Curasao.  About  1815  another  fifth  appeared 
with  a figure  3 in  a dentilated  circle  (Fig.  100)  ; this  is  said  to  have 

* For  discussion  of  a similar  mark,  see  p.  98,  under  St.  Martin. 


The  Coinage  oe  the  West  Indies  113 

been  issued  to  pass  for  three  reals,  probably  when  the  Dutch  regained 
possession  of  the  island.  Dollars  cut  in  sevenths  with  this  stamp  are 
known.  A similar  counterstamp  with  the  3 in  a linear  circle  is  found 
on  sixths  of  dollars  (Fig.  101).  These  segments  with  the  3 counter- 
stamp  are  sometimes  assigned  to  New  Amsterdam  now  in  British 
Guiana.  On  account  of  the  numerous  varieties  of  this  counterstamp, 
these  pieces  must  have  been  thus  stamped  for  a number  of  years  and 
probably  in  several  of  the  Dutch  colonies,  for  according  to  a note  in  the 
sale  catalogue  of  the  Speelman  coins,  Schulman,  Feb.  24,  1908,  these 
pieces  are  still  current  for  fifty  cents  (half  guilders)  in  Curasao,  Suri- 
name and  St.  Martin. 

During  the  English  occupation  English  shillings  passed  at  eighteen 
stivers  with  the  counterstamp,  a crowned  c 18,  Spanish  reals  at  nine 
stivers  with  c 9 in  oval  (Fig.  102)  and  half  reals  for  live  stivers  with 


Fig.  102.  Fig.  103. 

c 5.  There  are  also  Spanish  pistareens  counterstamped  with  an  18 
in  square  indent  (Fig.  103) , as  well  as  reals  counterstamped  with  a 
large  9 in  an  oval  (Fig.  104),  also  half  reals  counterstamped  with  a 5 
(Fig.  105)  that  may  belong  here.  Some  time  later  the  Dutch  gulden 
was  (nit  into  quarters  and  stamped  with  a script  o in  circular  depres- 


Fig.  104.  Fig.  105.  Fig.  100. 

sion  to  pass  for  nine  stivers  (Fig.  106) . Other  pieces  issued  have  been 
silver  reals  in  1821,  billon  stivers  in  1822,  and  in  recent  years  coins  of 
Wilhelmina  of  the  value  of  quarter  and  tenth  guldens.  Tokens  have 
been  issued  by  Jersurum  A Co.,  j x c°.,  by  J.  J.  Naar,  j j n,  and  by 
Leiba  & Co.,  l x c. 

•Jamaica.  This  island  was  always  well  supplied  with  currency  so 
that  the  government  was  not  forced  to  adopt  the  measures  used  in  the 
Antilles  in  general.  Consequently  we  find  no  cut  money.  As  the 


The  American  Journal  or  Numismatics 


Spanish  dollar,  or  piece  of  eight,  was  valued  here  at  four  shillings, 
which  was  from  six  pence  to  a shilling  under  its  current  rating  in  other 
colonies,  the  practice  of  clipping  coins  became  very  extensive  here,  re- 
sulting in  time  in  a badly  disorganized  system  of  values.  In  order  to 


Fig.  107. 


put  the  currency  on  a fixed  basis  the  Assembly  in  1758  passed  a law 
to  stamp  a certain  number  of  good  gold  and  silver  coins  with  the  let- 
ters g e in  a circular  indent  on  both  sides  of  the  piece  (Fig.  107).  A 
new  valuation  was  put  on  these  pieces  as  the  following  list  of  the  coins 
so  stamped  will  show. 

£ s.  (1. 


Doubloons 

Two  pistole  pieces 

Pistoles 

Half-pistoles 

Quarter-pistoles 

Dollars  (eight  reals) 

Half-dollars  (4  reals) 

( ») uarter-dollars  (pesetas) 
Rials  (reals) 

Half  rials 

Quartiles  (quarter  reals)  • 


2 10 

1 5 

12  (3 

6 3 

G 8 

‘ 3 4 

1 8 

10 
5 

24 


The  doubloon  is  worth  approximately  sixteen  dollars  and  the  pis- 
tole four  dollars.  The  gold  thus  stamped  is  very  rare.  Dollars  are 
known  bearing  the  additional  stamp  1763.  The  reason  for  this  date  is 
not  known.  Another  style  of  counterstamp  appeared  after  1806.  This 
was  a crowned  g b and  is  found  only  on  dollars.  The  stamp  has  seve- 
ral forms.  The  first  one  is  rather  coarsely  executed  in  a square  indent 
and  has  been  noted  on  pieces  dated  1806,  1807  and  1810  (Fig.  108) . The 
second  one  is  more  carefully  engraved  and  the  indent  has  rounded  cor- 
ners (Fig.  109) . I have  noted  this  type  on  dollars  of  1811,  1813, 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


115 


1814  and  1818.  The  third  stamp  has  the  g r crowned,  punched  in 
without  indented  panel  (Fig.  110).  The  dates  found  for  this  punch 
are  1806  and  1817.  It,  seems  hardly  possible  that  Jamaica  would  use 
three  different  stamps  in  so  short  a time,  therefore  this  last  stamp  is 
very  likely  for  some  other  locality.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  dates  of 


Fig.  108.  Fig.  100.  Fig.  110. 

the  coins  on  which  the  last  mentioned  stamp  is  impressed  fall  into  the 
periods  of  both  the  first  and  second  mentioned  stamps,  which  would  be 
an  argument  to  further  preclude  its  use  for  Jamaica.  It  is  therefore 
probable  that  this  third  stamp,  different  in  many  ways  from  the  other 
two,  does  not  belong  here.  All  of  these  marks  have,  at  times,  been 
attributed  to  Trinidad,  so  that  this  latter  stamp  may  be  for  that  island. 

Copper  pennies  are  also  known  with  g r crowned.  Cut  silver  with 
w r crowned  has  sometimes  been  attributed  to  Jamaica,  but  these  cut 
pieces  belong  to  Sierra  Leone  ( Vide  p.  123,  Fig.  131) . Tokens  have  been 
issued  by  M.  Howard,  William  Smith,  Thomas  Lundie  & Co.,  George 
Brandon  and  Thomas  Lunday  & Co.  In  1869  pennies  and  halfpennies 
in  nickel  were  first  issued  for  Jamaica  and  farthings  in  1880,  the  reason 
for  the  use  of  this  metal  being  the  dislike  of  the  negroes  for  copper. 


Haiti.  The  coinage  of  this  island  is  extensive  enough  to  take  up 
separately,  so  we  will  confine  ourselves  only  to  the  counterstamped 
coins.  There  are  only  a few  varieties  and  all  are  rare.  A French  edict 
of  July  13,  1781,  caused  certain  Spanish  American  coins  to  be  stamped 
with  the  mark  of  the  colony,  to  pass  at  the  value  of  an  escalin  and  half- 
esealin  (real  and  half-real).  The  mark  was  a crowned  anchor  and  c 


116 


The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


interlaced  in  an  irregular  indent  (Fig.  111).  Under  the  first  republic 
a large  ring  on  the  top  of  the  anchor  was  substituted  for  the  crown. 
These  pieces  were  struck  at  Vi  lie  du  Cap,  the  capital.  Copper  pieces 
with  a crude  l-c-  in  rectangular  indent  probably  were  struck  at  this 
place.  About  1792  French  coppers  were  counterstamped  with  s : d in 
rectangular  indent  for  Saint  Domingue,  as  the  island  was  called  by  the 
French,  and  between  1805  and  1809  pieces  were  stamped  with  n sd  in 
two  lines,  for  Napoleon,  Saint  Domingue. 

During  the  uprising  against  the  French  the  natives  under  Jacques 
Dessaliens  (1804-1806)  struck  silver  by  simply  punching  on  flans  in  a 
cone  shaped  indent,  a crude  head  and  the  value  25  (Fig.  112) , 30  or  50, 
and  likewise  the  value  in  rectangular  indent  on  the  reverse  side. 

Cuba  and  Porto  Rico.  Spain  stamped  Spanish -American,  Peru- 
vian and  other  dollars  and  gold  onzas  with  a crowned  f.  7?  (Fig.  113)  or 
a crowned  y iu  (Fig.  114)  in  a circular  depression  (Ferdinand  VII,  Isa- 


bella II)  for  her  colonies  in  general.  On  account  of  the  dates  found 
on  the  coins  stamped,  the  Ferdinand  counterstamp  could  not  have  been 
authorized  before  1832.  Another  stamp  peculiar  to  Cuba,  is  an  outline 
key,  the  arms  of  Havana.  This  stamp  comes  in  two  forms;  a raised 
key  in  an  indented  outline  with  a lozenge  shaped  bow,  on  small  copper 
coins  of  Charles  and  Johanna  of  Spain  (Fig.  115)  A and  a more  modern 
looking  key  on  various  foreign  silver  coins  (Fig.  115c).  This  latter 
stamp  is  comparatively  recent,  as  the  pieces  that  have  come  to  my 
attention  have  had  dates  ranging  from  1862  to  1874. 

* This  first  stamp  of  a key  is  probably  the  oldest  countermark  used  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere, and,  in  this  form,  is  always  found  impressed  on  the  copper  pieces  of  Charles  and  Johanna 
issued  from  the  mint  in  Mexico.  The  ancient  look  of  the  key  makes  it  probably  a stamp  of  about 
that  early  period,  late  Sixteenth  Century.  It  is  claimed  by  some  to  be  the  mark  of  San  Domingo 
when  under  Spanish  rule,  though  I have  been  unable  to  locate  any  authority  confirming  this. 


117 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 

At  one  time  within  the  past  forty  years  Spanish  copper  coins  had 
holes  bored  in  the  centre,  3mm.,  for  use  in  Porto  Rico  (Fig.  116) . 


Tig.  115a.  Fig.  110. 


Inagua.  This  island  in  the  Bahamas  connterstamped  certain 
money.  Pistareens  are  met  with  stamped  with  an  i in  an  octagon  (Fig. 
117),  and  later,*  another  mark,  215  (Fig.  118),  probably  for  two  shil- 
lings live  pence.  The  piece  illustrated  bears  the  additional  stamp  20, 
whether  a reduction  to  twenty  pence  or  not,  I do  not  know. 


Fig.  117.  Fig.  118. 

Demerara  and  Eskequibo.  Although  this  colony  is  not  a part  of 
the  West  Indies  its  proximity  and  trade  relations  and  the  similar  treat- 
ment of  the  coins  that  passed  current  there,  bring  the  cut  and  coun- 
terstamped  coins  into  the  series.  During  the  English  occupancy  an 
ordinance  was  passed  in  1798  that  gold  Joes  weighing  seven  engels 


Fig.  119. 

should  pass  at  twenty-two  guilders,  and  those  weighing  less  than  that 
should  pass  at  the  same  value  for  one  year,  but  should  bear  the  stamp 
E D in  a square  frame  for  Essequibo  and  the  same  stamp  in  a round 
frame  for  Demerara  (Fig.  119).  Pieces  stamped  with  22  in  a square 

* I have  noted  pieces  dated  1846  and  185.'i. 


118 


The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


frame  are  also  assigned  here.*  About  1803  the  silver  dollar  was  pierced 
to  make  in  all,  four  guilders  or  twelve  bits  ; a hole  of  nineteen  crenelles 
was  cut,  the  dollar  being  stamped  in  beaded  oval  depression  e3'.g'.iD  (Fig 


Fig.  120. 


120)  for  three  guilders,  and  the  plug  e'.eTs\  for  three  bits  (Fig.  121)  .t 
There  are  still  many  counterstamped  and  cut  coins,  the  locations 
of  which  have  not  been  determined.  An  interesting  stamp  of  a script 
b in  a circle  is  found  impressed  on  half  Joes  or  English  sovereigns, 


Fig.  121 


-nr-i 

V W '~ 

■■ 

. ' A 


&Y': 


cv-  m, ft' 

:• 


Fig.  122.  Fig.  12:!. 

oftentimes  on  an  inserted  plug-  (Fig.  122) . Some  have  attributed  this  to 
Berbice,  now  in  British  Guiana,  but  as  coins  with  this  counterstamp 
are-found  more  frequently  in  the  United  States  than  elsewhere,  it  prob- 
ably belongs  to  this  country.  Some  cataloguers,  without  any  proof, 

* The  22  in  square  ■frame  shown  on  Fig.  38  is  possibly  this  mark. 

f It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  facts  as  handed  down  to  us  vary  from  the  numismatic 
evidence  we  glean  from  the  coins.  Chalmers  in  his  Colonial  Currency,  p.  127,  gives  the  follow- 
ing: “ Mr.  E.  A.  V.  Abraham,  in  his  pamphlet  of  1891  on  the  Coins  of  British  Guiana,  says  : 
‘ The  Government  cut  pieces  in  the  shape  of  a star,  a crescent,  and  a circle  from  the  dollar  pieces, 

milled  the  cut-out,  and  the  space  so  cut  from,  and  mint-marked  the  cut-out  pieces The 

smaller  coins  were  treated  in  a similar  manner.  The  Spanish  pieces  to  represent  a “ sixpence  ” 
(?  half  real)  was  partially  cut  across  in  three  in  the  shape  of  a triangle,  and  when  a purchase  was 
made,  the  purchaser  broke  a piece  off  his  “ sixpence,”  and  when  he  had  broken  three  pieces  off 
(each  being  a penny),  the  triangular  piece  left  was  a “bit.”  These  pieces  are  called  cut-bits. 
The  dollar  was  cut  in  five  triangular  pieces,  each  representing  a quarter  of  one  dollar.  . . . The 
cut  edges  are  milled,  and  the  pieces  mint-marked.’  ” 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies  lilt 

have  claimed  this  to  be  one  of  Ephraim  B rasher’s  marks.*  His  mark 
was  an  e b in  an  oval,  and  as  an  English  sovereign  is  known  hearing 
both  stamps  (Fig.  123) , this  fact  would  make  it  fairly  convincing  that 
the  script  b is  not  Brasher’ s.  In  the  catalogue  of  the  Murdock  sale! 
there  is  a note  to  the  effect  that  pieces  thus  marked  circulated  in  Geor- 
gia during  the  Colonial  period. 


The  half  Joe  hearing  small  t p in  rectangle  (Fig.  124),  stamped  on 
a plug,  has  not  been  assigned  as  yet.  The  coin  itself  on  account  of  its 
crude  workmanship,  is  interesting  as  it  may  be#  one  of  the  counterfeit 
half  Joes  made  in  the  United  States,  referred  to  on  p.  91.  This  t i> 
mark  has  probably  no  connection  with  the  large  t p crowned  found 
stamped  on  a Spanish -American  peso  mentioned  on  p.  109. 

J.  Meili  has  described  in  several  of  his  publications,  a number  of 
Portuguese  gold  pieces  bearing  various  marks  and  punches.  Some  of 
these  had  doubtless  an  official  status,  but  sufficient  clues  are  lacking  for 
their  attribution.  Unfortunately  there  have  been  in  recent  years  some 

p 


false  counterstamps  made  impressed  on  gold  coins  often  in  conjunc- 
tion with  genuine  marks. 

One  of  the  common  stamps  on  silver  coins  is  what  is  apparently  a 
double -headed  fleur-de  -lis  (Fig.  125).  Some  have  thought  this  mark 

* Brash  or  was  employed  in  171)2  by  the  authorities  of  the  United  States  mint  to  make  assays 
for  the  mint  on  sundry  coins  of  gold  and  silver,  vide  American  Journal  of  Numismatics,  July, 
1892,  p.  20. 

t Sold  by  S.  W A II.,  July,  lOO.'i,  lot  582. 


The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


120 


to  have  reference  to  some  French  colony.  The  shape  of  the  fleur-de- 
lis  would  almost  preclude  this.  I think  the  best  conclusion  concerning 
this  punch,  on  account  of  it  being  found  on  so  many  mutilated  United 
States  coins,  is  that  it  was  a stamp  formerly  used  at  one  of  the  United 
States  sub -treasuries  to  impress  on  coins  submitted  for  redemption, 
which  were  then  returned  to  the  owner  as  unredeemable.  These 
punches  have  varied  at  different  times,  and  inquiries  as  to  whether 
this  fleur-de-lis  was  one  of  the  stamps  used,  has  resulted  in  no  infor- 
mation from  the  government. 

The  small  round  plug  impressed  with  a crude  2 (Fig.  126),  has  up 


Fig.  12G. 

to  date  remained  a mystery,  no  ring  or  dollar  from  which  it  was  re- 
moved has  turned  up  to  identify  the  piece.  The  real  with  a 7 and 
some  mark  resembling  an  s above  it  within  a depressed  oval  (Fig.  127) 
has  so  far  been  unsolved.  Possibly  the  mark  above  the  seven  is  a 
symbol  for  pence  (d) . 


There  has  recently  come  to  light  an  eighth  of  a Spanish -American 
dollar  counterstamped  simply  with  the  date  1838  (Fig.  128),  which 
must  refer  to  the  West  Indies,  for  in  that  year  an  Order  in  Council 
effected  certain  remedial  measures  concerning  currency  and  valuations 
for  the  different  British  islands,  by  which  decree  the  dollar  was  rated 
at  four  shillings  twopence,  and  the  doubloon  at  sixty-four  shillings. 
Bo  far,  however,  the  exact  attribution  to  any  one  island  has  been  futile. 

The  Cayenne  sous  are  sometimes  found  counterstamped  with  vari- 
ous letters;  some  that  have  come  to  the  writer’s  attention  are  w c d, 
c w c,  v & d,  e.  h.  These  were  undoubtedly  private  stamps  of  mer- 
chants and  had  possibly  local  circulation  at  some  enhanced  value,  as 
did  the  piece  stamped  by  Francois  Declos  on  Trinidad  ( Vide,  p.  110) . 

Although  the  cut  coins  of  modern  times  are  essentially  a West 
Indian  product,  the  practice  has  been  employed  sporadically  in  other 


The  Coinage  ob’  the  West  Indies 


121 


parts  of  the  world.  During  the  middle  ages  the  small  silver  coins  of 
Europe  were  at  times  cut  in  quarters  and  halves,  simply  to  make  divi- 
sional parts.  The  silver  pennies  of  England  cut  into  halves  and  fourths 
or  farthings,  are  good  examples.  Early  Mohammadan  coins  are  also 
found  cut  into  halves.  Probably,  however,  the  Arabs  themselves  did 
not  do  this  to  any  great  extent,  but  other  people  did,  for  early  Cufic 
money  has  been  found  in  various  places  of  Europe,  especially  in  Scan- 
dinavian countries,  where  the  proportion  of  coins  cut  in  halves  or  less 
seems  to  be  fairly  plentiful. 

Modern  cut  coins  doubtless  influenced  by  the  prevailing  practice  in 
the  Antilles  have  been  noted  in  various  countries,  and  although  they 
do  not  necessarily  come  within  a discussion  of  West  Indian  coins,  they 
are  so  closely  associated  that  a brief  mention  of  some  of  the  pieces  is 
justified,  especially  as  many  of  them  are  at  times  confused  with  the 
West  Indian  series. 

Brazil.  According  to  J.  Meili,*  in  the  province  of  Rio  Grande  do 
Sul,  about  the  time  of  the  war  with  Paraguay.,  private  persons  stamped 
Spanish  pesetas  with  400  in  a ' rectangular  indent,  making  the  piece 
pass  for  that  number  of  reis  or  a balastraca,  or  cut  the  pieces  into 
halves  and  stamped  each  piece  with  an  indented  200,  or  into  quarters 
and  stamped  the  segments  100.  These  cut  half  and  quarter  balastra- 
cas  had  crude  crenated  edges.  He  also  records  a larger  piece  cut  into 
quarters  bearing  a stamp  in  two  lines  200  *sbs  (Sao  Borja  ?) , and 
Bolivian  eight  sueldos  cut  into  fifths  or  less,  with  large  wravy  crenelles 
and  bearing  various  marks.  According  to  Enrique  Pena,f  gold  and 
silver  was  cut  and  counterstamped  in  various  ways  between  1866  and 
1869. 

Mexico.  The  coinage  of  this  country  is  replete  with  counter  - 
stamped  coins,  especially  with  initials  and  monograms.  Whether  or 
not  much  money  was  used  in  a cut  state  in  Mexico  is  a question. 
The  only  instances  that  have  come  to  notice,  are  one  real  pieces  cut  in 
half  and  stamped  with  sat  in  monogram,  said  to  be  for  Santa  Anna 
de  Tamaulipas,  and  Spanish  eight  real  pieces  sliced  down  like  the  St. 
Lucia  pieces  to  pass  for  four  reals  and  stamped  in  five  lines  in  a circle, 
4 r | mon  prov  | di  | hidalgo  | • m • . These  were  said  to  have  been 
issued  during  the  revolution  of  1810  under  Hidalgo.  Although  I have 
seen  none  of  the  pieces  that  were  sliced  off,  they  were  probably  used 
and  stamped  for  two  reals. 

* Das  Brasilianische  Geldwessen,  II  Theil,  1905,  pp.  355  ff. 

t Monedas  y Medallas  Paraguayas,  Asuncidn,  1900. 


Tiie  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


122 


United  States.  In  tlie  United  States  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century  and  the  first  half  of  the  Nineteenth,  the  Spanish  - 
American  dollar  and  half  were  cut  privately  into  halves,  quarters  and 
eighths.  Although  these  had  no  official  sanction  they  passed  readily 
for  hits.  They  were  more  in  use  in  the  South  and  West  and  grew  out 
of  the  necessity  for  small  change.  United  States  half  dollars  were  at 
times  treated  in  this  way.  It  is  said  that  in  some  of  the  Indian  agen- 
cies in  the  West,  this  custom  continued  for  some  time.  This  cut  silver 
bore  no  mark  or  stamp  nor  were  the  edges  crenated,  so  that  from  a 
numismatic  standpoint  it  has  little  value.  We  have  seen  before  that 


in  some  of  the  West  Indian  islands  silver  was  treated  in  the  same  man- 
ner without  any  distinguishing  mark.  One  notable  exception,  how- 
ever, deserves  mention,  namely  the  cut  quarter  segments  of  Spanish 
dollars  stamped  on  one  side  in  script  letters  T.  H within  a circle  of  six- 
teen links,  in  each  of  which  is  a small  star,  the  reverse  has  a circular 
punch,  in  the  centre  of  which,  within  a circle,  is  a displayed  American 
eagle  with  shield  on  breast,  around  edge  nouvelle  Orleans  (Fig.  129) . 
These  pieces  were  probably  stamped  by  Puech  Bein  of  New  Orleans, 
from  the  fact  that  there  is  a copper  token  issued  by  Puecli  Bein  & Co., 


dated  1834  (Low,  Hard  Times  Tokens,  no.  82) . The  quarter  segment 
was  undoubtedly  issued  earlier,  probably  not  many  years  after  it  be- 
came part  of  the  United  States,  as  New  Orleans  is  spelled  in  the  French 
manner. 

The  coin  illustrated  was  cut  from  a dollar  that  had  been  counter  - 
stamped  m v a | 1812,  so  that  it  is  probable  that  the  New  Orleans  piece 
was  issued  about  this  time  or  a little  later.  Some  of  these  segments  also 
bear  an  additional  counterstamp  Had  in  script  letters  (Fig.  130).  Just 


Tiie  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


123 

what  this  latter  stamp  signifies  is  a question,  as  the  silver  in  the  piece 
is  good,  though  lighter  in  weight  than  the  first  coin.  Probably  this 
p b stamp  was  extensively  counterfeited,  and  the  issuers  of  the  genuine 
stamped  Bad  on  all  of  those  pieces  they  could  get  hold  of.  The  dies 
used  on  the  latter  are  not  the  same  as  employed  on  the  first  piece.  The 
obverse  side  is  nearly  identical,  but  the  chain  has  seventeen  links  and 
the  reverse  die  is  very  coarsely  executed.  This  money  shows  a West 
Indian  influence,  and  the  attempt  at  dentillation  of  the  cut  edge  by 
means  of  a file,  producing  a wavy  effect,  should  be  noted. 

Great  Britain.  Owing  to  the  failure  of  the  Government  in  the 
early  part  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  to  issue  silver  coin,  Spanish 
money  was  used  to  a considerable  extent  in  Great  Britain.  Much 
of  this  was  connterstamped,  first  in  1797  by  the  Government.  These 
were  Spanish  dollars  counterstamped  with  a small  head  of  George  III 
in  oval,  changed  in  1804  to  an  octagon,  and  were  issued  by  the  Bank 
of  England  at  four  shillings  ninepence.  Later,  mill  owners,  merchants 
and  other  private  persons  counterstampecfci  dollars.  This  was  done 
largely  in  Scotland  and  the  values  impressed  on  the  pieces  ranged  var- 
iously from  four  shillings  sixpence  to  five  shillings  sixpence.  The 
Rothsay  mills  in  Buteshire  seem  to  be  about  the  only  concern  to  cut 
the  dollars  into  subdivisions,  these  were  cut  into  halves  and  thirds  and 
were  valued  at  two  shillings  sixpence  and  one  shilling  eightpence 
respectively. 


Sierra  Leone.  A coin  already  referred  to  on  p.  115  has  so  many 
characteristics  of  the  series  under  discussion  that  it  surely  must  have 
been  influenced  by  the  West  Indian  issues.  The  coin  is  a quarter  seg- 
ment, of  a dollar  counterstamped  with  a crowned  w R (Fig.  131)  and 
has  no  cremations  on  the  cut  edges.  Chalmers  states  (op.  cit .,  p.  209), 
that  cut  Spanish  money  was  in  use  in  this  African  colony  before  1825, 
that  it  was  nominally  cut  into  quarters,  but  practically  into  five  parts. 
In  1831  the  colony  obtained  from  England,  a stamp  (shown  on  Fig. 
131)  for  the  purpose  of  stamping  cut  money  to  be  legally  current.  In 
the  Caldecott  sale  (op.  cit.)  lot  309,  is  a Spanish  four  real  piece  with 


124 


The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


the  same  stamp  blit  with  the  tail  of  the  r broken  off.  The  old  cut 
money  was  called  in,  and  in  1832  the  stamped  cut  money  was  made 
legal  tender  to  the  exclusion  of  the  unstamped  pieces ; however,  this 
latter  was  made  legal  in  1834,  and  in  fact  the  commissariat  cut  great 
quantities  of  dollars  the  next  year.  In  1839  the  cut  money  was  de- 
monetized and  about  125,000  pieces  were  taken  in.  Unstamped  cut 
money  also  circulated  in  the  Gambia  and  the  Gold  Coast. 


New  South  Wales.  Great  trouble  had  been  experienced  in  this 
colony  in  keeping  what  coins  there  were  in  circulation  from  being  ex- 
ported. In  1813  a large  number  of  Spanish  dollars  was  imported  and 
the  Government  immediately  issued  a proclamation  to  the  effect  that 
dollars  with  a circular  piece  cut  out  of  them  would  be  put  in  circula- 
tion. The  ring  known  as  a “ holey  dollar”  had  a hole  about  19mm., 
the  cut  edge  nicely  milled  and  on  one  side  the  words,  five  • shillings 
and  a palm  branch  around  the  inner  edge,  and  on  the  other  side  new 
south  wales  • 1813  • The  piece  removed,  known  as  a “dump,”  bore 
on  the  obverse  a crown  and  above  new  south  wales  and  below  1813,  on 
the  reverse  fifteen  pence  in  two  lines.  Both  sides  show  dentilated 
milling.  It  was  also  forbidden  to  export  these  coins.  After  1822  the 
value  of  these  was  tixed  at  seventy -five  cents  or  three-quarters  of  a 
Spanish  dollar  for  the  “ holey  dollar,”  and  twenty -five  cents  or  one- 
quarter  of  a Spanish  dollar  for  the  “ dump.” 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  the  various  cut  and  counter - 
stamped  coins  are  now  becoming  rare,  many  of  the  pieces  extremely 
so,  and  that  very  few  are  found  on  the  islands  on  which  they  were 
once  used.  This  is  chiefly  due  to  the  fact  that  when  they  were  demon- 
etized due  notice  was  generally,  given  for  redemption  and  the  pieces 
were  eventually  melted  up.  Varieties  that  once  probably  did  exist  are 
now  unknown,  for  we  have  acts  and  laws  of  some  of  the  islands  show- 
ing that  cut  or  stamped  money  was  authorized.  The  gold  which  was 
once  abundant,  is  now  very  scarce,  the  melting  pot  having  claimed  its 
own.  Heretofore,  collectors  as  a class  have  paid  but  little  attention  to 
this  curious  coinage,  and  what  little  has  been  studied  and  observed  on 
this  series  has  been  done  abroad. 

I wish  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  to  Mr.  David  Proskey  of 
Paterson,  N.  J.,  for  the  loan  for  photographing  of  the  following  coins: 
nos.  3,  18,  37,  59,  77,  78,  96,  97,  99,  102,  104,  115a,  118, 126  and  127 ; to 
Mr.  Nelson  P.  Pehrson  for  no.  68,  and  to  Mr.  James  W.  Ellsworth  for 
nos.  122,  123  and  124. 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


125 


LIST  OF  COUNTERSTAMPS 

FOUND  CHIEFLY  ON  WEST  INDIAN  COINS 
The  numbers  in  parentheses  refer  to  coins  illustrated 

LETTERS 

B Uncertain  (122,  123) 

Had  Puech  Rein,  New  Orleans  (130) 

C Curasao  (105) 

C and  value  Curasao  (102) 

C and  anchor  Ville  du  Cap,  Haiti  (111) 

C C See  St.  Martin  (37) 

C W C Unassigned,  private  mark  ?,  page  120 
H)  Dominica  (4,  5) 

E B Ephraim  Brasher,  New  York  (123) 

E H)  Demerara  and  Essequibo  (119) 

E.  &.  D Demerara  and  Essequibo  (120,  121) 

E.  H.  Unassigned,  private  mark  ?,  page  120 
F I)  Frangois  Declos  at  Trinidad  (8.6) 

F “7(  in  monogram  Danish  W est  Indies  (59a) 

F ^ VII  monogram  Danish  West  Indies  (59) 

F.  7°.  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  (113) 

G incuse  Grenada  (60,  61,  62,  84) 

G crowned  Guadeloupe  (50,  51,  53,  54,  55,  56,  57) 

G radiated  Guadeloupe  (52) 

G in  15  rayed  star  Guadeloupe  (47) 

G H See  St.  Vincent  (69) 

G'LD  Guadeloupe.  La  Desirade 
G P crowned  Azores,  see  page  102 
G R Jamaica  (107  ) 

G % crowned  Jamaica  (108,  109,  110) 

G T Grande  Terre  (Guadeloupe) 

G T in  monogram  Grande  Terre  (Guadeloupe) 

II  in  lozenge  or  square  Virgin  Islands  (18,  19) 

I in  octagon  Inagua  (117,  118) 

1 B Barbados  ?,  page  93 
1 4"  D He  Desirade  (Guadeloupe) 

1 G Guadeloupe 

I H Trinidad,  page  1 10  and  Fig.  63 
I T Tobago  ? 

I T crowned  Tobago  ? 

/ IV  See  Grenada  (62,  63) 


The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


120 


L • C • Ville  du  Cap,  Haiti 
L M Martinique 
L S Les  Saintes  (Guadeloupe) 

L 8 in  monogram  See  S L in  monogram 
M Montserrat  (30) 

M St.  Martin  (34) 

M in  circular  indent  Martinique  (95,  96) 

M in  heart  Martinique 
M in  square  indent  Montserrat  (27,  28,  29) 

M : G Marie  Galente  (Guadeloupe) 

N Nevis '? 

NEVIS  Nevis  (23,  24) 

N SI)  St.  Domingue  (Haiti) 

Q (amulet)  St.  Lucia  (70) 

OO  (amulets)  St.  Lucia 
()  crowned  St.  Bartholomew 
P Philipsburg  (39,40,41) 

P ‘B  Puech  Bein,  New  Orleans  (129,  130) 

P M crowned  Mozambique,  see  page  102 
P . P Pointe  a Pitre  (Guadeloupe) 

R F Guadeloupe  (45,  46,  48,  49,  58  ) 

S incuse  The  Saints  (20,  21,  22) 

S in  relief  St.  Vincent  (66,  67,  68,  69) 

S A T in  monogram  Santa  Anna  de  Tainaulipas  (Mexico) 
S B Stro  Borja,  Brazil,  page  121 
S : I)  St.  Domingue  (Haiti) 

S E St.  Eustatius  (40,  41,  42) 

S E®  St.  Eustatius 
S K St.  Kitts  (25) 

S L St.  Lucia 

S L in  crowned  shield  St.  Lucia 
S L in  monogram  St.  Lucia  (71) 

S:  Lucie  St.  Lucia  (72,  73) 

S M in  oval  Santa  Margarita  ? 

S M in  circle  St.  Martin  ? 

ST  M St.  Martin  (35) 

S*  MARTIN  St.  Martin  (36) 

S P St.  Pierre  (Martinique) 

S P in  monogram  St.  Pierre  (Martinque) 

ST  • PE  St.  Pierre  (Martinque) 

Stampee  Irinidad 

S V in  monogram  St.  Vincent  (64,  65) 

T on  Cayenne  sous  Virgin  Islands  (16,  17) 


The  Coinage  of  the  West  Indies 


127 


T on  silver  Tobago  (75,  7b,  77,  78) 

T radiated  Trinidad  (88) 

T I!  Tobago 
T0B  Tobago  (79) 

T'  B Tobago  (80) 

TO  B A Gr  O Tobago 

TIATILA  V irgin  Islands  (15,  22) 

TORTOLA  Virgin  Islands  (12,  13,  14) 

T P Unidentified  (124) 

T P crowned  Unidentified,  see  under  Trinidad,  page  109 
T R Trinidad  (84) 

V Vieque  (33) 

V & I)  Unassigned,  private  mark  ?,  page  120 
\V  C I)  Unassigned,  private  mark  ?,  page  120 
W P crowned  For  W R 

W R crowned  Sierre  Leone  (131) 

V.  II.  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico  (114) 

NUMERALS  AND  DEVIOUS 

Q amulet  St.  Lucia  (70) 

Anchor  and  C Ville  du  Cap,  Haiti  (111) 

Arrows  St.  Martin  (36,  37) 

Crown  St.  Bartholomew  (43,  44) 

Crowned  heart  Martinique  (94) 

Crowned  numerals,  (16,  12,  6,  4,  3)  Dominica  (6,  7,  8,  9,  10) 
Crowned  numerals,  and  M (18,  9,  7,  4,  3)  Montserrat  (31,  39) 
Crowned  O St.  Bartholomew 
Eagle  under  20  or  22  Martinique  (87,  88) 

Fleur-de-lis  St.  Martin  (34) 

Fleur-de-lis  double-headed  Uncertain  (125) 

Head  Rev.  value  Haiti  (112) 

Heart  Martinique 

Heart  crowned  Martinique  (94) 

Heart  rayed  Martinique 
Ivey  Cuba  (115,  115a) 

Lattice  Trinidad  (85) 

Rosace  of  five  petals  Curagao  (97,  98,  99) 

Star  or  Sun  of  twelve  rays  Vieque  (32) 

2 on  plug  Unassigned  (126) 

2 • 6 Montserrat 

8 in  circle  Curasao  (100,  101) 

5 in  depression  Curagao  ? (105) 

9 in  oval  Curagao  ? (104) 


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The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


18  in  square  Curasao  ? (103) 

20  above  eagle  Martinique  (87) 

21  and  rosace  Curasao  (99) 

22  above  eagle  Martinique  (88) 

22  in  rectangle  St.  Martin  (38) 

22  in  square  Demerara  and  Essequibo 
2 I 5 Inagua  (118) 

82  io  Guadeloupe  (56) 

100  Brazil,  page  121 
200  Brazil,  page  121 
400  Brazil,  page  121 
1838  Unassigned  (128) 

DESCRIPTION  OF  CENTRAL  HOLES  AND  PIECES  CUT  FROM  SAME 

Heart  shaped  Martinique  (89-93) 

Hexagonal  Tobago  (81) 

Octagonal  Tobago  (74,  75,  76) 

Octagonal  (Plug  only)  Guadeloupe  (45) 

Round  (smooth)  23mm.  Dominica  (7,  8) 

Round  (smooth)  23mm.  St.  Vincent  (66,  67) 

Round  (smooth)  19mm.  New  South  Wales 
Round  (smooth)  17mm.  Dominica  (11) 

Round  (smooth)  15mm.  St.  Kitts  ? (26) 

Round  (smooth)  3mm.  Porto  Rico  (116) 

Round  (scalloped)  15,  16,  17  crenelles  Dominica  (2,  3,  4,  5,  6) 
Round  (scalloped)  14  and  15  crenelles  Trinidad  (82,  83) 

Round  (scalloped)  19  crenelles  Demerara  and  Essequibo  (120,  121) 

Square  (plain)  Guadeloupe 

Square  (scalloped)  Guadeloupe  (50,  51,  52) 

Square  (scalloped)  Grenada  ? (61) 


THE  SOU  MARQUE 

BY  HOWLAND  WOOD 

One  of  the  early  coins  that  played  an  important  part,  in  the  mer- 
cantile transactions  on  this  hemisphere,  was  a small  billon  piece  issued 
by  the  French.  It  was  known  under  various  names  but  chiefly  as  the 
sou  marque.  Its  smallness  and  little  purchasing  power  caused  it  to  be 
viewed  with  more  or  less  contempt,  whence  we  get  the  expression, 
“ not  worth  a sou  marque”.  The  pieces  received  various  names  in  the 
different  localities  in  which  they  were  used,  for  they  were  exported  to 
nearly  all  of  the  West  Indian  islands  whether  settled  by  French,  En- 
glish, Swedes  or  Dutch. 

The  first  of  these  coins  came  into  existence  by  a royal  edict  dated 
October,  1738.  They  were  originally  intended  for  circulation  in  France, 
but  they  soon  found  their  way  into  the  colonies.  The  issue  was  very 
extensive  and  probably  all  of  the  French  mints  were  engaged  in  their 
manufacture.  Pieces  from  the  following  mints  have  come  to  our 
notice  — Paris,  Bordeaux,  Lyons,  Metz,  Montpelier,  Orleans,  Rennes, 
La  Rochelle,  Ronen,  Strasbourg,  Tours  and  Troyes.  The  striking 
was  discontinued  in  1770,  and  without  doubt,  dates  for  each  year  can 
be  found.  The  following  is  the  description  of  the  piece  struck  in  the 
Paris  mint: 


Pig.  1. 


Double  Sol  of  24  deniers.  Obv.  lud  xv.  d.  g.  fr.  (m.m.  fox)  . et  nav.  hex 
A crowned  l between  three  fleurs-de-lis. 

Rev.  SIT  NOM.  DOM.  (m.m.  A)  benedictum  + 1738.  Two  interlaced  l’s  com- 
posed of  three  branches,  crown  above.  Billon.  22|mm.,  wt.  2.185  grammes.  (Fig.  1.) 

The  small  fox  on  the  obverse  was  the  mark  of  Renard  du  Tasta, 
director  of  the  Paris  mint.  Pieces  from  the  other  mints  had  their  cor- 
responding mint  letters  and  marks. 

This  coin  was  popularly  called  a marque  in  distinction  to  the  older 
worn  out  billon  coins. 


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There  was  also  issued  a smaller  one  sol  piece  of  twelve  deniers  that 
was  probably  struck  in  several  of  the  mints  in  France,  as  I have  met 
with  them  from  those  of  Paris,  Besanqon,  Dijon,  Lille,  Lyons,  Metz, 
Nantes,  Rouen,  Strasbourg  and  Toulouse.  This  smaller  piece  possi- 
bly circulated  in  some  of  the  colonies,  though  no  record  of  it  in  the 
West  Indies  is  found.  Breton  mentions  it  as  being  in  circulation  in 
Canada,  where  both  denominations  bore  the  same  values  as  in  France. 
By  royal  ordinance  in  1744,  they  were  reduced  both  in  Canada  and  in 
France  to  eighteen  deniers  and  nine  deniers  respectively,  making  the 
larger  piece  pass  for  the  same  value  in  Canada  as  the  older  billon  piece 
of  thirty  deniers  or  six  blancs,  dated  1710,  called  a mousquetaire,  which 
had  been  reduced  to  eighteen  deniers  in  1738. 

In  the  French  Antilles  they  passed  at  the  higher  value  of  two  sols 
six  deniers,  where  they  were  known  as  noirs  on  account  of  their  black 
appearance.  They  soon  found  their  way  into  the  English  islands  in 
the  West  Indies  under  the  name  of  French  son  marks  or  black  dogs, 
where  they  were  valued  at  one  and  a half  pence  or  one-sixth  of  a bit. 

At  Cayenne  they  originally  passed  for  their  full  value  of  two  sous 
but  in  1779  were  reduced  a quarter  or  to  eighteen  deniers.  In  this  col- 
ony they  were  very  extensively  used,  and  to  facilitate  transactions  they 
were  done  up  in  rolls  of  sixty  and  circulated  in  that  form  for  six  livres 
and  were  then  called  rouleaux. 

They  were  introduced  into  St.  Helena  in  1750  to  pass  for  two  pence 
and  were  called  French  pieces.  They  were  also  used  in  the  Isles  of 
France  and  Bourbon,  where  they  were  valued  at  three  sols  or  sous  by 
an  edict  of  1770. 


The  use  of  this  marque  in  many  of  the  West  Indian  islands,  and 
their  convenience  in  small  transactions,  caused  the  colonists  to  petition 
to  the  home  government  for  more  pieces  of  this  nature.  We  have  an 
edict  of  1763  causing  600,000  livres,  or  about  that  number  of  our  pounds, 
of  these  worn  twenty -four  denier  pieces  of  the  edict  of  1738,  of  which 
we  have  just  spoken,  to  be  stamped  on  one  side  with  a crowned  c for 
use  for  the  colonies  in  general  (Fig.  2) . As  these  pieces  had  recently 
been  demonetized  and  vast  quantities  had  been  returned  to  the  treasury, 


THE  SOU  MARQUE 


131 


the  reissue  of  these  in  a new  form  was  a happy  solution.  These  were 
originally  known  as  pieces  of  billon  of  eighteen  deniers.  As  this  was 
purely  a colonial  issue,  it  was  forbidden  for  any  one  to  have  them  in 
France  or  to  bring  them  back  from  the  islands  in  America.  Zay,  in 
his  Histoire  monetaire  des  Colonies  franchises,  gives,  besides  the  c 
crowned  struck  in  relief,  two  other  types  which  he  calls  “ essais.”  One 
has  a small  c crowned  in  depressed  outline  (Fig.  3) , the  other  a larger 


device  treated  in  the  same  manner  (Fig.  4).  Without  doubt,  these 
were  simply  early  types  of  this  stamp,  as  specimens  have  been  found 
in  the  West  Indies,  which  would  hardly  be  the  case  if  they  were  pat- 
terns. Probably  the  large  punch  was  replaced  by  the  more  common 
stamp  as  shown  in  Fig.  2,  which  did  not  mutilate  the  coin  so  badly,  as 
is  shown  by  the  reverse  of  Fig.  4.  The  smaller  stamp  most  likely  was 
discarded  as  not  being  large  enough. 

From  the  start  these  evidently  proved  popular,  and  the  supply  of 
old  plan chets  soon  became  much  depleted.  Partly  on  this  account  and 
for  other  reasons,  it  was  decided  in  1767  to  substitute  a copper  issue  for 
the  colonies  in  general,  but  the  population  in  the  Antilles,  especially  at 
Guadeloupe,  had  become  so  accustomed  to  the  small,  light  billon  pieces 
they  refused  to  take  the  new  coppers.  Consequently  in  these  places 
the  government  had  to  revert  to  the  old  billon  type. 


The  supply  of  worn  marques  totally  ran  out  in  a few  years,  for  we 
find  when  30,000  livres  worth  of  these  were  ordered  to  be  sent  to  Cay- 
enne in  1779,  the  mint  officials  at  Paris  were  obliged  to  stamp  these  on 
new  billon  flans  (Fig.  5) . These  c crowned  pieces  have  been  assigned 
by  most  American  cataloguers  to  Cayenne,  probably  under  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  c was  for  that  place.  The  edict  clearly  states  that  they 


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The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


were  intended  for  a general  American  colonial  issue,  and  the  c is  doubt- 
less the  initial  for  colonies. 

On  account  of  the  simplicity  of  the  device,  counterfeits  abounded, 
but  the  flans  were  for  the  most  part  made  of  brass  or  some  base  metal 
tinned.  An  interesting  counterfeit  of  the  earlier  type  is  illustrated 
(Fig.  6),  imitating  not  only  the  counterstamp,  but  also  the  partially 
defaced  legend  of  the  original  marque.  As  an  instance  of  the  large 
number  of  counterfeits  in  circulation  the  case  of  Martinique  is  of  in- 


Fig.  6. 

terest.  In  1797  during  the  English  occupation  of  this  island,  a law 
was  passed  prohibiting  the  circulation  of  false  sou  marques  which  had 
been  introduced  in  great  numbers,  but  on  account  of  the  trouble  to 
distinguish  the  good  from  the  bad,  and  on  account  of  the  small  number 
of  good  pieces  on  the  island,  six  months  later  another  decree  was  issued 
admitting  provisionally  the  false  marques  at  ten  deniers  each  or  eigh  - 
teen  to  the  escalin  of  fifteen  sols. 

These  c crowned  pieces  were  called  by  the  French  in  the  Antilles 
etampes  (Creole  tampes)  and  for  the  most  part  passed  at  an  enhanced 
value  of  three  sous  nine  deniers.  By  the  English  they  were  called 
stampees*  and  as  such  they  were  generally  countermarked  with  some 
device  for  the  different  islands,  and  as  a rule,  four  went  to  a bit. 

At  Cayenne  they  were  called  noirs  and  were  originally  valued  at 
two  sous,  but  in  1779,  when  a large  quantity  was  sent  there,  their  value 
was  fixed  at  eighteen  deniers  or  one  and  one -half  sous.  They  were 
superseded  in  1781  by  a new  issue  and  were  demonetized  in  1828. 
These  likewise  were  put  up  in  rouleaux  of  sixty  at  a value  of  four  livres 
ten  sous.  In  the  Reunion  Islands  the  coins  were  known  as  carons. 

We  have  noticed  that  the  early  marque  circulated  in  the  Isles  of 
France  and  Bourbon.  These  two  islands  are  in  the  Indian  Ocean  off 
the  coast  of  Madagascar.  lie  de  Bourbon  was  discovered  in  1545  by 
the  Portuguese  and  was  taken  by  the  French  in  1638  by  whom  it  was 

* The  English  colonists  generally  used  the  word  stampee  with  reference  to  any  of  the  billon 
coins  that  bore  subsequent  counterstamps,  including  the  Cayenne  sous  mentioned  later  on.  All 
these,  but  chiefly  the  uncounterstamped  pieces  were  called  dogs  or  black  dogs,  the  name  sou 
marqu^  being  less  or  locally  used. 


THE  SOU  MARQUE 


138 


named  Bourbon  in  honor  of  Louis  XIV.  During  the  French  Revolu- 
tion this  island  and  the  lie  de  France  joined  their  governments  to- 
gether, and  in  1793  they  were  known  as  the  Reunion  Islands,  which 
under  the  Empire  was  changed  to  Bonaparte.  From  1811  to  1848  the 
first  island  went  back  to  its  old  name  of  Bourbon.  Since  then  it  has 
been  called  Reunion.  Between  1810  and  1815  it  was  under  England. 
He  de  France  was  called  Acerno  by  the  Portuguese,  who  discovered  it 
in  1505,  and  Maurice  by  the  Dutch.  The  French  occupied  it  from  1715 
to  1810,  and  from  that  time  it  has  been  held  by  the  English  under  the 
name  of  Mauritius. 

Pursuant  with  its  policy  of  furnishing  the  various  colonies  with  a 
coin  of  small  value,  the  French  government  struck  a billon  piece  for 
these  islands  in  1779.  The  piece  had  a value  of  three  sols  and  was  of 
a new  design  that  was  subsequently  used  for  other  colonies. 


Obv.  louis  xvi.  li.  de  (m. ni.  a crane)  fe.  ft  nav.  Three  fleurs-de-lis  under 
a crown. 

Rev.  isles  de  fe  et  de  bourbon  (m. ni.  a lyre),  in  centre  3 | sols.  | 1779  | 
a.  23mm.,  .2.185  grammes.  (Fig.  7.) 

Two  million  of  these  were  ordered  to  be  made  at  the  Paris  mint, 
and  they  were  struck  on  new  planchets  as  well  as  on  the  old  marques 
of  the  edict  of  1738.  Some  of  this  issue  bear  the  date  1780. 

The  denomination  of  the  piece  is  for  three  sous  as  the  old  billon 
marque  passed  current  here  for  that  value.  These  new  pieces  likewise 
were  called  a marque  and  were  valued  at  one  half  of  their  inscribed 
value  in  France  or  one  sol  six  deniers,  66%  went  to  ten  colonial  livres 
or  five  French  livres.'" 

An  edict  of  1781  authorized  6,720,000  more  of  these  coins  for  the 
the  two  islands.  Besides  bearing  the  date  1781,  the  only  other  differ- 
ence is  a circle  separating  the  legend  from  the  central  inscription,  and 
the  word  sols  being  changed  to  the  newer  spelling  sous  (Fig.  8) . All 
of  these  coins  were  demonetized  in  1828.  There  is  also  a pattern  of  a 
similar  coin  with  the  value  of  two  sous. 


It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Decaen  piastre  of  1810  for  these  islands  was  for  ten  livres. 


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The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


The  same  edict  called  for  similar  three  sou  pieces  for  the  colonies 
in  general  and  Cayenne.  The  obverses  were  the  same  as  the  above,  the 
reverses  were  as  follows: 

Ttev.  colonies  fran raises  (ni. m.  a lyre),  in  dotted  circle  3 | sous  | 1781  | A. 

Same,  but  without  circle. 

Rev.  colon  IE  DE  CAYENNE  (in. in.  a lyre),  iii  linear  circle  3 | sous  | 1781  | A. 

These  pieces  were  not  placed  in  circulation,  the  values  being  wrong, 
as  two  sous  was  the  generally  accepted  valuation  in  the  other  colonies. 

As  far  as  Cayenne  goes  this  was  changed,  as  an  edict  of  November, 
1781,  created  a two  sou  piece,  although  the  edict  of  fabrication  was  not 
until  January,  1782.  Nevertheless  from  the  dates  found  on  the  coins, 
the  striking  began  two  years  earlier,  as  pieces  are  found  dated  1780, 
and  1781  as  well  as  1782.  The  issue  was  continued  in  1783,  1780, 
1787,  1788  and  1789.  None  were  struck  in  1784  and  1785. 


Tig.  !).  Fig.  10. 


Obv.  Louis  xvi.  R.  de  (in. m.  a crane)  fr.  et  nay.  three  fleurs-de-lis  under 
a crown. 

Rev.  colonie  de  cayenne  ( ni.in.  a lyre),  in  circle  2 \ sous  | 1782  | a.  23mm., 
1.90  grammes.  (Fig.  9.) 

Tin  •ee  million  of  these  were  struck,  some  on  new  flans  and  others 
on  the  older  marques.  These  retired  the  earlier  pieces  of  eighteen  den- 
iers,  and  were  themselves  withdrawn  in  1844  when  they  were  valued  at 
seven  and  one -half  centimes.  These  pieces  found  ready  circulation  in 
the  West  Indies  where  they  were  generally  counterstamped  by  the  dif- 
ferent island  governments.  The  commonest  date  for  these  stampees  is 
1789.  Of  this  date  we  note  two  varieties,  one  with  mint  mark  of  the 
regular  small  lyre,  the  other  with  a larger  inclined  lyre  (Fig.  10) . These 
coins  were  called  noirs  or  sous  marques  noirs  on  account  of  their  black 
appearance.  As  we  have  said  before  they  were  the  dogs  or  the  black 
dogs  of  the  English  settlers. 

The  next  few  years  produced  several  pattern  coins: 

Obv.  lud.  xvi.  D.  o.  fr.  et.  XAV.  rex  fleur-de-lis.  Two  script  l’s  interlaced, 
in  centre  a fleur-de-lis.  The  mintmark  r for  Limoges,  in  exergue. 


THE  SOU  MARQUE 


135 


Rev.  In  a circle  of  small  fleurs-de-lis  2 j sols.  | 6 | deniers  | fleur-de-lis  | 1786. 
These  dies  were  cut  by  Droz. 

Obv.  Similar  to  above. 

Rev.  In  a circle  of  small  fleurs-de-lis  trois  | sols.  | maltese  cross  | 1787.  Dies 
also  cut  by  Droz. 


The  obverse  of  these  two  pieces  was  later  copied  in  the  1816  and 
1818  ten  centimes  of  He  Bourbon  and  La  Gfuiane. 


Obv.  lud.  xvi.  n.  G.  fr.  et.  NAV.  rex.  Three  fleurs-de-lis  under  a sun-burst. 
In  exergue  R for  Orleans. 

Rev.  sit.  xom.  dom.  benediotum.  Two  ornate  l’s  interlaced,  superimposed 
on  a sun-burst,  above  a crown.  In  exergue  1781. 


An  interesting  pattern  dated  1789  was  designed  for  use  in  the 
Antilles,  but  owing  to  the  opposition  of  the  colonies,  especially  at  Saint 
Domingue,  on  account  of  an  arbitrary  denomination  being  fixed  for  the 
different  islands,  and  the  consequent  doubt  of  the  projectors  of  being 
able  to  place  the  coin  in  circulation  the  piece  advanced  no  further  than 
the  experimental  stage.  Its  description  is: 


Obv.  Same  as  the  Cayenne  sous. 

Rev.  isles  du  vent  et  sous  le  vent.  (in. m.  a lyre).  In  held,  2 sous  | 6 
den.  | 1789  | A.  22mm. 


In  1816  another  piece  was  designed  for  Cayenne  but  was  not  put 
in  circulation. 

Obv.  louis  xvn i roi  de  FRANCE  Three  fleurs-de-lis  under  a crown. 

Rev.  colonie  de  cayenne  In  exergue  7V  (for  Tiolier)  and  cock.  In  field, 
within  linear  circle  2 | sous  | 1816  | A.  22mm. 


In  the  same  year  a billon  piece  was  placed  in  circulation  in  lie  de 
Bourbon  that  departed  in  a number  of  particulars  from  the  previous 
pieces,  and  formed  a model  for  subsequent  issues. 


Fig.  12. 


Obv.  LOUIS  xvi li  — roi  de  fran  Two  script  l’s  facing  and  interlaced, 
crowned,  in  centre  fleur-de-lis. 

Rev.  In  incuse  letters  on  a broad  granulated  band  isle  de  bourbon  1816  In 
field  10  | cent.  | cock  and  a | N Tiolier.  22mm.,  2.5  grammes.  (Fig.  11.) 


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The  American  Journal  of  Numismatics 


One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  were  ordered  to  be  struck  and 
were  composed  of  two -tenths  silver.  They  were  reduced  in  value  in 
1850  to  seven  and  one -half  centimes  and  were  demonetized  in  1879. 

A similar  piece  followed  in  1818  for  French  Guiana  or  Cayenne. 

Obv.  Similar  to  lie  de  Bourbon  piece. 

Rev.  In  incuse  letters  on  a broad  granulated  band  guyanne  franchise  In 
field,  10  | cent.  | cock  and  A | N 'Holier.  22mm.,  2.5  grammes.  (Fig.  12.) 

Two  million  were  ordered  to  be  struck  and  were  composed  of  two- 
tenths  silver,  this  being  a larger  proportion  of  silver  than  in  the  earlier 
pieces,  they  kept  a whiter  appearance  and  went  under  the  name  of  a 
marque  blane  in  contrast  to  a noir  by  which  the  other  pieces  had  been 
designated.  By  order  of  the  governor  in  1819  they  passed  at  thirteen 
and  one -third  centimes  or  six  at  eighty  centimes  or  a colonial  livre. 
They  were  issued  in  rolls  containing  sixty  or  thirty  pieces,  and  were 
still  current  in  1892. 

In  184G  a similar  piece  was  issued  for  the  same  value  but  contain- 
ed less  than  G per  cent,  silver,  and  were  coined  from  the  old  black  sous 
marques  that  had  been  retired  in  1814. 


Obv.  LOUIS  phtllippe  I ROI  des  FRAN  (“A  is  In  centre  the  monogram  L p in 

floriated  script  crowned. 

Rev.  In  incuse  letters  guyane  franqaise  1846  on  broad  granulated  band. 
In  held  10  | cent.- | index  hand  and  A | barre  22mm.,  2.5  grammes.  (Fig.  13.) 

These  also  were  known  as  marques  blancs.  This  issue  ended  the 
French  colonial  billon  coinage  and  was  the  last  survival  of  the  old  sou 
marque  that  began  as  a French  coin  in  1738,  which  bade  fair  to  rival  in 
its  humble  way  the  popularity  of  the  Spanish -American  dollar  and  its 
subdivisions. 


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